Ga. Tech’s full-court press stops UNC women’s basketball

When Georgia Tech’s women’s basketball team converted an inbound pass into an easy layup on Thursday, North Carolina point guard Cetera DeGraffenreid assumed her normal routine.

But as the senior began her muscle-memory trip taking the ball up the court, she was met by a full-court press from a pair of Yellow Jackets with other plans for the Tar Heel possession.

Georgia Tech’s double-team pressure stripped DeGraffenreid of the ball and immediately converted the steal into an easy jumper.

The steal was quickly followed by 12 more, as an aggressive Yellow Jacket defense went on to smother UNC in the Tar Heels’ third loss in a row.

“One of the things we do is we change defenses a lot,” Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said. “We press three different ways. But I have to credit my kids because night in and night out, we’ve played almost — what, I don’t know our record right now — 30 some games and our kids have pressed 40 minutes the entire season.”

Turning to long passes and drives through pairs and even trios of Yellow Jacket defenders, North Carolina gave up 14 turnovers by the end of the first half.

The second half only added to the pain, as Ga. Tech went on to score 18 points off UNC’s 22 giveaways.

Struggles with overcoming the defense came as a surprise to the Tar Heels, who had no trouble escaping the Yellow Jackets’ pressure on the road at the beginning of ACC play. Although UNC went on to lose by one point at the hands of a late Yellow Jacket comeback then, the pressure was handled in a much more effective manner.

“What we did tonight, it worked against Georgia Tech,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “I thought we broke it pretty easily down there.”

Desperate for quick escapes around a swarming zone defense, UNC attempted frantic assists as the back-and-forth game’s score remained tight.

“We were trying to pick up the tempo,” Hatchell said. “But we didn’t have as much trouble against the press down there as we did tonight. I just thought we panicked a little bit, instead of being patient and getting the cutters coming through.”

But the press wasn’t the only aspect of Georgia Tech’s defense that stifled North Carolina’s struggling offense.

The changing nature of the Yellow Jackets’ pressure also stemmed confusion on the court for UNC.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” junior Chay Shegog said. “A lot of our turnovers happened in the half-court too, so it wasn’t just the press that bothered us.”

After turning to a full-court press of their own in the final minutes of play, the Tar Heels continued to fall victim to the Yellow Jackets’ aggression.

With less than 30 seconds to go, Ga. Tech’s pressure was unfailing as the team sent two players towering over senior Italee Lucas’ attempts at saving grace, forcing UNC to a call a time out to escape.

“It was difficult,” Lucas said. “They threw (the full-court press) at as last time we played at their place. Maybe they were a little more aggressive.”

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