Double-double for Zoe Smith and 23 points from Dunn
#17 Georgia Tech women’s basketball took care of business in Chestnut Hill a few days after nearly falling to SMU, beating Boston College soundly 71-51 for their 20th win of the season and a 20-4 record (8-4 ACC). Zoe Smith recorded her sixth career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, her fourth this season.
Kara Dunn led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 50% from three and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. She now takes the season lead for Tech in 20+ point games with her seventh of the season.
Last game against SMU, Tech was barely in control of how that game was dictated. Today, they fully did what they wanted against BC. The Eagles shot a putrid 16% in the first half, making life very easy for Tech with a 21 point lead going into halftime. BC did get some shots to finally go down in the third quarter, largely from T’yana Todd with 15 third quarter points, but did not have the firepower to seriously threaten Tech’s lead.
The win is important as Tech is trying to climb up the ACC standings, starting today in 7th place with a shot to get to 6th with a North Carolina loss. The win also prevents Tech from falling any further in the NCAA seeding possibilites, as they are likely on the bubble when it comes to potentially hosting first round tournament games. Realistically, the best seed Tech could get in the ACC tournament is #5, requiring them to leap UNC and Louisville who they’ve already played this season.
The last time Tech reached 20 wins was the 2021-22 season where win #20 came on February 27. The closest to February 9 in recent memory that Tech hit win #20 was in the 2011-12 season on February 19, also against Boston College.
Tech will carry a three game win streak to Clemson when they head to Littlejohn Coliseum on Thursday night.
How It Happened
1Q
Tech looked very solid off the opening tip, playing at a controlled offensive rhythm and overwhelming Boston College defensively with Termis’ size underneath plus hitting five buckets to keep transition opportunities at a minimum. Boston College used an early timeout after Kara Dunn hit a three to make it 11-2. The lockdown defense held the entire quarter as the Eagles’ offense couldn’t even get simple layups to hit, shooting only 2-19 while Tech finished the quarter on the 6-0 run.
Stats via Boston College
2Q (19-6 GT)
Boston College continued to shoot remarkably poorly from the field in the 2nd, going one of seven in the first five+ minutes to the media timeout. After an Augustinaite three, Tech went to her three more times from deep but didn’t sink any. Dunn got herself to the line twice to at least get Tech some points while not hitting any field goals for over three and half minutes. The end of quarter run was pristine for Tech, suffocating BC with a 2-3 zone defense and getting multiple transition buckets from Zoe Smith and Chit-Chat Wright to put Tech’s lead over 20 points going into the half.
Stats via Boston College
3Q (36-15 GT)
Tech kept the gas on the pedal coming out of half going on an 8-0 run and hitting five of six shots with three buckets from Tonie Morgan and a triple from Kara Dunn to extend the lead to 47-23 at the media timeout. Boston College finally did start seeing some buckets go down in this stretch with T’yana Todd completing a three point play at the free throw line. That was part of a run of four straight buckets for BC which while overlapping with Tech still scoring, Fortner called timeout up 20 points at the 1:43 mark to squash any further encroachment in the lead. BC’s run was stopped only by the game clock, getting as large as 15-2 before end of the quarter, Todd finishing with 15 3rd quarter points.
Stats via Boston College
4Q (53-38 GT)
Tech reestablished control of the game in the 4th with more controlled offense and Boston College going cold again. In a one for seven shooting stretch by BC, Tech was able to get Blackshear an open look layup, Morgan and Smith both got to the free throw line, and Morgan hit another layup to get the lead back to 20 points at 62-42 going into the media timeout. Dunn’s third triple of the game pretty much put it away up 65-44, putting the game in garbage time.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via Boston College
Game Leaders
Points: Kara Dunn (GT) – 23
Assists: Tonie Morgan (GT) – 6
Rebounds: Zoe Smith (GT) – 11
3PM: Kara Dunn (GT) – 3