ATHENS – Georgia fought for the first time in the SEC’s women’s basketball tournament for the first time since 2004 with a victory over runner-up Texas A&M on Saturday.
The 16th place Lady Bulldogs achieved a 74-68 victory over SEC regular season champion Aggies (23-2) in the semifinals at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC
It is Georgia’s first victory over one of the top 5 teams in the ranking since the victory over Stanford in the 2013 NCAA Sweet 16 tournament.
SEC coach of the year, Joni Taylor, and his team with fourth place in the ranking face second place in South Carolina at 2pm on Sunday (TV: ESPN2). The Gameocks beat Tennessee 67-52 in the other semifinal.
South Carolina won UGA 62-50 at the team meeting earlier this season in Columbia on January 21.
Taylor will celebrate his 42nd birthday on Sunday.
“I am extremely happy with the program,” said Taylor, who has been in his sixth season as a coach since taking over coach legend Andy Landers’ program.
“We talked about checkboxes and we continue to do that, and they are doing it the right way.”
Senior Maya Caldwell led the Bulldogs with 19 points, equaling her record for the season of 7 out of 12 shots, while senior Jenna Staiti recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, in addition to 6 blocks.
Taylor noted that Staiti played just 12 minutes the first time the teams met this season at College Station, an Aggies win by 60-48 on January 31.
Junior guard Mikayla Coombs set his career record with 12 points for the Lady Bulldogs.
With the defeat of Texas A&M, it is the first time since 2014 that the SEC regular season champion has failed to reach the SEC tournament finals.
“We want to finish strong,” said Caldwell, one of four veterans on the UGA list. “This is our (seniors) last year together and our last season together, and we know what we want and we will get it.”
Georgia has not won the SEC women’s basketball tournament since 2001.
“Everyone is really excited, (but) there aren’t a lot of hops and applause here,” said Caldwell. “We know that we still have unfinished business. We are not done yet. “
UGA has won the SEC tournament championship four times (1983, 1984, 1986 and 2001).
Screenshot of SEC network
