Tonie Morgan led Georgia Tech with 21 points, helping lift the Yellow Jackets to a 71-57 victory over South Dakota State to open the Hawaii North Shore Showcase on Saturday.
Dani Carnegie added 16 points while Zoesha Smith pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to keep Tech (5-0) undefeated.
Morgan scored the first bucket of the game, pushing Tech in front as the Jackets never trailed in the contest. A three from Ariadna Termis at 7:06 in the second quarter opened Tech’s first double-digit lead, forcing SDSU to burn an early timeout. Termis hit her 3-pointer in the middle of a 15-0 Yellow Jacket run which gave Tech its largest lead of the game, 33-14, with 5:18 to go in the half.
The Jackrabbits would close within single digits out of halftime, but Tech’s offense, led by Morgan’s nine points in the third quarter, allowed the Jackets to hold a comfortable lead throughout the period. South Dakota State strung together an 8-2 run early in the final period, cutting the score to 58-50, but a 3 from Chit-Chat Wright snapped the spurt and put Tech back up by double-digits for the remainder of the game.
The Jackrabbits shot 38.3% from the field and just 20% from 3-point distance.
Tech returns to action and closes out the tournament at 7 p.m. Monday, facing No. 23 Oregon.
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