Tech women fall against Duke and can't get back up for UNC
By Dale Russell / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Despite Tech's 83-51 loss against Duke last weekend, senior guard and standout Danielle Donehew managed to rack up 15 points in the game.
It's been a sad week for the men's basketball team. They showed signs of coming out of the dark by beating UVA and Florida A&M, only to lose big for two consecutive games. The women's team could have cheered up the sulking men's fans, but they haven't exactly been able to do so. They faced a nightmarish weekend last week, travelling to Duke on Friday and North Carolina on Sunday.
The Duke game turned out to be a beating, with the 14th-ranked Blue Devils winning by a score of 83-51. Duke's Georgia Schweitzer and Krista Gingrich scored a game-high 21 points during the rout. They hit a combined eight three-pointers for the Devils. This win was the 13th straight win by Duke over Tech.
The Jackets didn't roll over for the Devils, despite the lopsided score. Tech managed to trim a seven point deficit to four just after halftime, when Schweitzer sparked the Devils to a 20-2 run. She scored seven straight points on a jumper, a pair of free throws, and a three-pointer to jumpstart Duke's run.
All wasn't bleak for the Jackets. Danielle Donehew led the Jackets with a team-high 15 points, and junior Regina Tate had a game-high 13 rebounds.
On Sunday, the enemy was Tar Heel junior LaQuanda Barksdale. She scored a game-high 20 points to lead an attack as the Heels downed the Jackets by a score of 85-62.
Sunday's game looked bad from the very beginning. The Heels opened the game on a 10-0 run and shot 69.2 percent (18 for 26) in the first half to take a 47-25 lead at halftime. Carolina stretched its lead to 30 midway through the second half, but the Jackets cut their lead to 14 with 4:03 to play.
The Heels shot a season-high 56.9 percent (33 for 58) for the game, while Tech shot just 38.9 percent (21 for 54). Sophomore Alex Stewart led the Jackets with 14 points. The loss dropped the Jackets' record to 12-11 overall, and 5-8 in the ACC.
Head coach Agnus Berenato recognized that the Jackets have some things on which to improve.
"I was disappointed in the second half of our Duke game, and I was disappointed in the first half of our Carolina game," Berenato said. "The key for us is to play a total game. We need to play for an entire 40 minutes."
However, despite her disappointment, she is still proud that her team has managed to stay in fifth place.
"It's been unbelievable that we have managed to maintain fifth place. That is where we were picked at the beginning of the year when we had Niesha Butler, and now without her, we're still in fifth place. I think that says a lot about our program."
Berenato has more to celebrate that meets the eye, also. She has recently been named the College Coach of the Year in the state of Georgia by the Georgia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
Berenato received the award Wednesday night at the GeorgiaWomen's Intersport Network's (GA-WIN) awards banquet held at Emory University in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
The G.A.H.P.E.R.D. College Coach of the Year award is presented to a university, college or junior college female coach in the state of Georgia who has represented her profession in the areas of performance, leadership and community involvement.
Berenato is the Yellow Jackets' all-time winningest women's basketball coach with 169 victories at Tech. She was named the 1992 State of Georgia Division I Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club and was a 1996 recipient of a Sports Ethics Fellows award by the Institute of International Sports.
