Lady J's: Game 23 at Virginia Tech, Feb. 4 Thu., 7pm (ESPN-3)

[GTJT622]

The Lady J's hit the road in attempt to win back-to-back A.C.C. games for the first time this season. As outlined in another thread, February is normally when Coach Jo's troops kick it up a notch as Emeril Lagasse likes to say when cooking.

The Hokies, long at the basement of the A.C.C. along with Clemson, opened the season with an encouraging 13-1 record. However, they have gone 1-6 since then and no surprise the lone win was over the Orangenecks. The Hokies non-conference RPI strength of schedule is rated 273rd in the nation.

The Lady J's at 3-6 and Hokies at 2-6 need this game if they have any legit hopes of making the postseason such as WNIT. Virginia is 3-5, a half-game ahead of the Lady J's, and they travel to Duke Thursday night so with a LJ's win and French loss, the Lady J's could move into 8th place in the A.C.C. standings upon return after the game.

The Hokies have had trouble scoring of late. 5 of their last 7 games have seen them score 50 pts or less. They only have 1 player currently averaging scoring in double figures and that is barely at 10.1 ppg by 5'7" Aussie Junior Guard, Vanessa Panousis.

VPI&SU at 88 is currently slightly ahead of the Lady J's (93) in the RPI.

The LJ's hold the all-time series lead, 8-5, including 8 of the last 9 and 4 straight at The Cassell. This is a game the Lady J's need and should win. The LJ's travel to upstate NY to face the Orange this upcoming Sunday afternoon. Lots still to play for this season.

GO LADY JACKETS!!

 

[GTJT622]

Will be interesting to see if Cryor plays tomorrow night. Would love to know what the heck is going on with that situation.

 

[Buzzforlife]

We got Jorgy some minutes with CBG. Now you want our starting PG back out there?

Not sure how long the suspension is for?

 

[GTJT622]

I have no idea who plays PG at Tech anymore - for either program.

 

[GTJT622]

A pretty good article on Aaliyah Whiteside from rr.com... http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/020416aaa.html

 

[Buzzforlife]

Going for a 4th conference win tonight. Must win at Syracuse, just to get close to the .500 mark.

 

[GTJT622]

Good 3Q to take a 10 pt lead heading into the final 10 minutes. We almost scored as many in the 3Q (16) as we did the entire first half (20).

Roddreka showing a lot of guts and stepped her game up tonight.

 

[GTJT622]

Good defensive effort tonight and Aaliyah got some help. Any W is a good one in this league - especially on the road. Back to back W's for the first time this A.C.C. season and start off February on the right foot.

Nice job, Lady J's!!!!

 

[Buzzforlife]

Gari broke her nose in practice, but Cryor did play some tonight.

'Cuse plays in the Carrier Dome? That has to be the craziest waste of space yet.

 

[GTJT622]

The Hokies are a bad offensive team. Just don't have hardly any options to go for when it comes to scoring. We shot a poor 37.3% from the field and it was 11.8 pts better than theirs. Ugly basketball indeed.

Kat nailed some big shots for us when we needed them. She's gone from getting just 4 minutes of playing time just a few games ago to logging 38 minutes last night. I guess Gari's absence likely had something to do with it. Rogers has had a disappointing senior campaign IMO but last night we saw the RR of old. She fought through multiple hard falls to the floor hurting her shoulder and just kept battling like we have become accustomed to. She was registered with 9 boards, but it sure seemed like she got a lot more than that. I believe her grit was a shining light to the rest of the team.

O'Neil is getting doubled pretty much every time she touches the ball in the paint. She has got to learn how to keep her head up, protect the ball, and find an open LJ with a pass. She wants to start twisting and turning with moves to the glass but when double teamed this is often a turnover waiting to happen. It will be interesting to see how she plays next year. I am afraid she has lost a lot from her freshman campaign and knee injury. She doesn't look anywhere near like the same player offensively - and that can be understood I guess.

The 3rd quarter last night was some of the best ball we've played all season. Need to bottle that up and take it for full 4 quarters at Cuse to get a W up there. Looking forward to cranking the game up at halftime of the MBB game on Super Sunday.

 

[GTJT622]

A.C.C. Standings heading into this weekend's games...

T1. Notre Dame 10-0
T1. Louisville 10-0
*note: Irish travel to UofL Sunday with 2pm tip televised via ESPN-2
3. FSU 8-1
T4. Miami 7-3
T4. Syracuse 7-3
T4. NC State 7-3
7. Duke 6-4
8. Lady Jackets 4-6
9. French 3-6
10. Wake 3-7
T11. Hokies 2-7
T11. Cheaters 2-7
13. Pitt 2-8
14. BC 1-8
15. Clemson 0-9