No. 17 Georgia Tech continued to serve notice that it has one of the best teams in the nation by handily beating No. 23 Nebraska 72-61 at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday.
Tech led for more than 36 of the 40 minutes played and held one of the nation’s top 3-point shooting team to just 26% from beyond the arc. The Yellow Jackets are now 13-0.
“I always had it in my mind that we’ll be one of the best teams in the nation, just off of the work we did,” Tech guard Dani Carnegie said. “We come into every game like we’re the underdog because people still don’t have the most respect for us. Every game is a new game, every game we come in as underdogs, play our hardest. Even though we have a number beside our name, we’re still the underdogs for everything.”
Tech coach Nell Fortner was asked if she agreed with Carnegie’s assessment that this Tech team is one of the best around.
“Sure. Yeah. I mean why not?” the veteran coach said. “We play defense, we can shoot the 3-ball, we can spread the floor, we can take it inside if we need to, we can play off the bounce or we can just pass the ball and shoot it. I think we’re a very versatile team. We’ll step up against anybody.”
Carnegie led four Jackets in double figures. The freshman with a coldhearted shooting touch scored 20 and sank four 3-pointers while also grabbing eight rebounds. Fellow freshman guard Chazadi Wright scored 15.
Junior forward Kara Dunn was relentless on the glass by bringing in 14 boards, six of which came on the offensive end. She also scored 16 points. Tonie Morgan added 10.
But the story was Tech’s tenacious defense which held Nebraska to a season-low 61 points. The Cornhuskers (10-2) shot 34.3% overall and turned the ball over 12 times.
“We felt like our ball pressure was a problem. We felt like our defense, definitely, was something that was to our advantage,” Fortner said. “We tried to use it to continue to pressure the ball, to be there on the catch, to deny the ball, all those kinds of things. I was pleased with our defensive energy tonight.”
In the early going Saturday, Tech found made shots hard to come by as it went 4-for-14 over the first 10 minutes. Yet it still came away with a 14-10 lead thanks to Carnegie’s 3 from the right wing with 32 seconds left in the period.
The Jackets then dominated the second quarter, going up 26-14 on a Wright triple from the left corner. Nebraska began the period missing nine of their first 10 shots and went nearly six minutes without a point.
The Cornhuskers also missed their first 11 3-pointers until Logan Nissley finally drained one at the 2:04 mark. But Carnegie answered at the other end, swishing one from the left corner to make it 29-19 and then splashed another 54 seconds later putting Tech up 13 going into the break.
Tech held Nebraska to 25.8% shooting and forced seven turnovers.
“We understood they can shoot. So one of the things was to try to let them have tough 2s,” Carnegie said. “People make mistakes, so they’re gonna knock down some 3s, but we just continued to stay levelheaded, stick to our game plan to make them make tough 2s.”
The third quarter saw much of the same as Tech kept Nebraska at an arm’s distance, never allowing the Cornhuskers to get within less than 12. Carnegie’s layup at the 4:06 mark put Tech up 43-25 and Morgan’s jumper in the paint before the buzzer made it 49-35 going into the final frame.
Nebraska could never quite mount a comeback, getting within 64-55 with 1:35 to go and 65-57 with 75 seconds left, much too little, too late. Alexis Markowski had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cornhuskers.
The Jackets are now off until hosting Pittsburgh (8-6) at 2 p.m. on Dec. 29
“Really proud of this team, going through our nonconference and one conference game and being 13-0,” Fortner added. “I don’t think about that part a lot, but you know what? This is a game. And these are kids. This is the fun part. This is why they play. They wanna win, so do I. To be 13-0 right now, I’m really proud of them, because they have really done a good job of being coachable, following a scouting report and really growing up and doing the things that have to be done to win big games. Really pleased with where we are right now.”
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