Georgia Tech to face Richmond in Los Angeles in NCAA Tournament

“It’s an exciting time for us. This is a goal that we had all year long — and starting from last year,” Tech coach Nell Fortner said. “We wanted to get to that NCAA Tournament. Super proud and happy for these players because they worked hard for this. They are now reaping the benefits of that. It’s not only about making the tournament, you want to go make some noise in the tournament. We’re ready to do that.”

Fortner’s team, which gathered inside the Gordy Room in the Wardlaw Center at Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium to watch Sunday’s selection show, is 22-10 after going 9-9 in ACC play and 1-1 in the ACC tournament. It started the season 15-0 before ending the campaign with 10 losses in 17 games.

The Jackets had a NET ranking of 29 and defeated just one Quadrant 1 opponent. But they went 21-3 (and 7-1 against Quadrant 2 teams) against all other opponents.

“Obviously we have some losses we wish we could get back, but I’m really happy about how we placed and that we’re even able to be in the tournament because that’s something that’s been a goal for me and the team the past two years,” Tech junior Kara Dunn said.

The Spiders of Richmond received an at-large bid after losing by a point to Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Richmond won the Atlantic 10 regular season title and won 17 straight games during one point of the season.

Junior forward Maggie Doogan (6-2) leads three Spiders in double figures at 16.3 points per game. She’s also Richmond’s leading rebounder at 6.3 per night.

Richmond had a NET ranking of 33 and also had just one Quadrant 1 victory. The Spiders (27-6) also had two Quadrant 4 losses on their resume.

Tech is 2-0 against Richmond, winning once in 1985 in Richmond, Virginia, and once in 1988 in Atlanta.

If Tech can win Friday, it would most likely have to face UCLA. The Bruins (30-2) lost to rival Southern California twice, but won the Big Ten tournament title with three wins in three days — with one of those victories over USC.

Tech has only one player, Zoesha Smith, who has ever played in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s one-and-done right now. Everybody started out zero and zero. It’s a brand-new season. This is the season you start working for on June 1. This is it,” Fortner said. “All of this culminates into this week right here and beyond. I think that’s the message, let’s go to work. This is what we have been working for and we’re getting an opportunity to continue to play.”