Women trample Eagles, Deacons

The women's basketball team defeated ACC opponents Boston College at home 60-49 and Wake Forest on the road 58-45.

Tech and Boston College played a tight and close game for most of the night, with seven ties throughout the game.

"I think Boston College is a very solid basketball team and when they made their runs at us we got sharper," said Head Coach MaChelle Joseph.

In the first ten minutes of the second half, the Eagles held the Jackets to just six points and were able to tie up the game 40-40.

It was the first tie of the game since the two were tied at 17 points apiece with 6:49 remaining in the first half.

The Jackets pulled ahead again only to have the Eagles tie it up at 47-47.

Tech's Janie Mitchell was able to break the tie and give Tech the lead with a three point play. The play would put the Jackets ahead for good.

With just under two minutes remaining, Mitchell all but ended Boston College's comeback hopes with her basket to extend Tech's lead to nine points.

"Janie Mitchell is a big time player and big time players make big time plays. Our job as coaches is to put them in a position to win and the players have to make plays at the end of the game and I think that [Mitchell] came up big for us," Joseph said.

Mitchell finished the game with nine points. Stephanie Higgs and Chioma Nnamaka were the only two Jackets who scored in double figures.

Against Wake Forest, Tech never trailed and extended its lead to as large as 20 points late in the second half. The Deacons never came as close as eight points for the rest of the game.

Mitchell rejoined the starting lineup after missing four due to injury and coming off the bench for two.

She led the team with 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Tech took advantage of Wake's numerous mistakes and turnovers, scoring 23 points off of 20 turnovers.

The Jackets ran into foul trouble during the second half of the game and put in Angel Buie, a freshman who was making her college debut.

She scored a three-point shot on her first attempt in her collegiate career.

"It felt so good when I made that shot. I told [my teammates] on the bench that if they passed it to me I was going to shoot it and it was going to be a three," Buie said.

With the two wins, the Jackets have surpassed their ACC win total from last year when they finished just 2-12.

Tech is also one win away from matching its overall win total from last season of 14.

They have also won five road games this season, three more than they finished in the 2006 campaign.

The Jackets will play the defending national champion and ACC opponent Maryland on Thursday, Feb. 1.

The fourth-ranked Terrapins will hope to bounce back after an 84-71 loss to No. 2 UNC.

Last year, the then No. 4 Maryland ended the Jackets season and ACC tournament run, beating them 71-66 in the quarterfinals of the tournament on their way to a National Championship.

The Jackets have lost to all five of the ranked teams that they have played this season, four of them against top 10 teams.

While they have been able to run with the country's top teams and even gain leads on them, they have had problems closing out games.

Still, the Jackets have lost those five games by a combined 118 points, including a rout in Chapel Hill, where they lost to the Tar Heels 78-31 on Jan. 18.

After playing Maryland last night, the Jackets next game will be on the road against Virginia Tech on Monday.