ATHENS, Ga. - After playing much of last season with only six or seven players, Georgia coach Andy Landers was looking forward to the contributions a deep bench could make this season.
At least one of those reserves delivered in Sunday's 79-65 win over Davidson.
Christy Marshall was one of six players in double figures for No. 7 Georgia, scoring 12 points in playing what Landers called her ``best game of the year.''
``Coach has challenged us to bring our A-game and be ready to play,'' said Marshall. ``He can't play the same five the whole 40 minutes. He needs us, and the team needs us.''
Starting center Angel Robinson finished with 17 points to lead the scoring for Georgia (9-0). Point guard Ashley Houts scored 13, and Angela Puleo, Megan Darah and Tasha Humphrey scored 10 apiece.
Humphrey added 10 rebounds for her sixth straight double-double, the longest streak of double-doubles by a Lady Dog since Katrina McClain had seven straight in 1987. Those rebounds gave Humphrey 868 for her career, moving her past Cynthia Collins into seventh on the Georgia career record list.
Davidson (5-3) had four players score in double figures, led by Julia Paquette with 14. Kelly Gassie and Honna Housley had 13 each, and Danielle Hemerka scored 12.
Landers would like to see more of Georgia's reserves contribute.
``A couple of the subs were solid and a couple were not,'' he said. ``That is still a focus. I thought our starteers all played well, and Christy played well. Maybe if we can get seven and eight before the conference, that will be enough.''
Georgia jumped to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes, but Davidson scored seven straight points and later took the lead at 14-12 on a 3-pointer by Gassie with 10:41 to play in the half.
The teams traded the lead six times in the first half. But Davidson's last lead was at 23-20 after Kelsey Cary banked in a 3-pointer with 7:24 to go.
Georgia outscored the Wildcats 17-2 the rest of the half, capped by Houts' fast break layup at the halftime buzzer, giving the Lady Dogs a 37-25 lead.
``It was the intensity level that we had at the end of the half that we should have the whole game,'' said Robinson of the 17-2 run that won the game. ``(We were) playing defense and crashing the offensive boards.''
Davidson scored the first four points of the second half to cut the margin to 37-29 on Paquette's basket. But after a timeout by Georgia, Darrah and Puleo answered with 3-pointers to squelch any comeback hopes.
Georgia had 12 turnovers in the first half but just six in the second half.
``The problem is sloppy passes,'' said Landers. ``It is not turnovers in a general sense. I don't know how many times I have said, 'put the ball right where she is going to shoot it from. Put it in the pocket.' Our post players started the game by throwing one in the air. Rebecca (Rowsey) threw one up and hit coach (Vince) Dooley. Tasha and Angel overthrew each other on the high-low. Our post players had six of our turnovers at halftime.''
Georgia outrebounded Davidson 54-32 and scored 25 second-chance points.
The relative ease was in contrast to a year ago when Davidson led as late as 7:24 remaining before Georgia rallied to win 74-68. But Georgia played that game without Humphrey, suspended at the time, and Davidson played with Katie Hamilton, a pre-season all-Southern Conference pick this year. Hamilton has been sidelined so far this season with a knee injury.
``I am proud of the way our team responded,'' said Davidson coach Annette Watts. ``There are some talented teams in the Southern Conference, but we won't see teams as skilled as Georgia. I am glad we played this game. There are plenty of positives that we can take away from this game and propel us into the rest of the season.''
Thursday
May 15th, 2025
7:47PM
