Both the men and women’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball teams were active this weekend. Coincidentally, they were both making road trips to the same state: North Carolina. However, they would be facing different teams. The men’s team would face off with NC State and the women’s team would have a bout with Wake Forest.
Men are up first
The men’s team was up first on Saturday night. Georgia Tech would come into the contest with a ton of momentum after upsetting then-third ranked North Carolina the last time they were on the court. However, the Yellow Jackets would struggle finding a spark early on. NC State would jump out to a 13-4 lead within the first five minutes of the game. From there, the Yellow Jackets would score eight straight points to make it 12-13.
The closed gap from the Yellow Jackets would quickly get stretched out by the Wolfpack, as they would claim a 10-point lead to make it 25-15. Storming back again to build momentum before halftime, the Yellow Jackets would tie the game at 29-29 with three minutes remaining before halftime. Then they would ultimately take the lead and head into the locker room with a 36-35 lead.
The Yellow Jackets would use that as momentum to start the second half. They increased their lead to five points before NC State would slowly take over the game. Over the next ten minutes, the Wolfpack put together a run that wound up making the difference in the game. A 24-4 stretch to put them up 62-48 with just under nine minutes to go in the game.
After a timeout, the Yellow Jackets would try to start a run of their own, scoring eight of the games next ten points, however the mountain was too far to climb. The Yellow Jacket would come within four points with two seconds left in the game. However, there was simply not enough time left for a comeback. The final score was 82-76 in favor of the Wolfpack.
Next come the Ladies
Next up: the Lady Jackets. After an 85-48 drubbing to 14th ranked Notre Dame, the Lady Jackets were out to prove that the game was just a fluke. Who else to have a rebound game against than the team that’s dead last in your conference? The Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Georgia Tech asserted their dominance early in the game, scoring the game’s first seven points. The offense would lay back for the rest of the first quarter, heading into the second quarter with a 13-9 lead. The second quarter seen the Lady Jackets try to start pulling away, but they just couldn’t. For every basket the Lady Jackets had, the Demon Deacons responded right back. However, the Lady Jackets would still hold a 27-22 lead at halftime.
Coming out of the half, the Lady Jackets would score the first six points. This gave them a 33-22 lead. It finally looked like they were starting to pull away. Then the Demon Deacons went on a 12-5 run to end the second quarter and make it a 38-36 game. Headed into the fourth quarter, the momentum looked like it sharply shifted over to the Demon Deacons.
However, the Lady Jackets remained adamant to get the win. Neither team separated themselves for a while in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Wolfpack would take the lead for the first time in the game with seven minutes remaining. The teams battled back and forth over the course of the last seven minutes of the game. If one made a shot, the other team did on the other end to counter it. Then the Lady Jackets pulled away with a six-point lead and never looked back. They led by six for most of the last three minutes of the game.
A last chance effort by the Demon Deacons would shrink the lead to three, but with three seconds left. That proved to be not enough time, as the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 58-55 win.
Next up for the teams
The men’s basketball team has games coming up as followed: Tuesday Feb. 6 @ Wake Forest and Saturday Feb. 10 @ Louisville
The women’s basketball team has games coming up as followed: Thursday Feb. 8 @ Syracuse and Sunday Feb. 11 vs Miami at home.