Dawgs Hold First Scrimmage

FOOTBALL

The Dawgs scrimmaged at Sanford Stadium for 90 minutes on Saturday morning as the they continued preparations for the annual G-Day spring game on April 16.

“I thought we had an outstanding scrimmage today in regards to the guys playing with energy,” said head coach Mark Richt. “There was great competition throughout the scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

Richt singled out several players who had particular strong outings. He mentioned redshirt freshman receiver Michael Bennett, junior receiver Marlon Brown and junior tight end Orson Charles as three of the players who stood out on offense.

“Michael Bennett did some things to catch my eye today,” Richt said, adding that Bennett had a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. “Marlon also had a touchdown. He reached up and snatched it away from a defender, it was a great catch.”

He also noted the play of redshirt freshman walk-on tailback Brandon Harton. Harton, a native of Reidsville, Ga., made several impressive runs during the scrimmage, including a 65-yard touchdown run.

On defense, Richt said that sophomore outside linebacker Jarvis Jones and senior cornerback Brandon Boykin both made notable plays and that sophomore nose guard Kwame Geathers is showing more development in the middle.

“I thought Kwame had some nice plays out there,” said Richt. “Going against a guy like Ben Jones is not an easy task and Kwame handled it well today.”

Georgia wrapped up their scrimmage with a series of goal-line stands, which Richt said ended in a tie. But the defense won the tiebreaker to end an evenly matched battle on Saturday.

Richt noted that one of the best things to come out of the scrimmage was that no one was injured.

The Dawgs return to action on Tuesday at the Woodruff Practice Fields.

Lady Dawgs Advance

BASKETBALL

Jasmine James scored a game-high 18 points and Porsha Phillips recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds to lead Georgia (22-10) to a 56-41 victory over Middle Tennessee State (23-8) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Auburn Arena on Sunday.

"We are very pleased with the way that we played," head coach Andy Landers said. "As a coach and coaching staff, we are extremely proud of the effort and how hard our basketball team played and also how well they executed on the defensive end. They were absolutely outstanding there.

"We beat a very good Middle Tennessee State team," Landers continued. "This is a team that shoots the ball 45 percent from the floor and shoots the ball very well from three. I'm just really proud of the way our defense stepped up and, from my perspective, disrupted a very good offensive team. On the offensive end, I thought we had a number of people make big plays and play well and we shot the ball well. If we could have eliminated a few of those turnovers, it would have been as good of an offensive effort as it was a defensive effort. But again, this was a very good Middle Tennessee State team. We would have felt, regardless of the score, fortunate to have beaten them and we feel that now that it's done."

James also chipped in five rebounds and four steals for Georgia, which shot 47.7 percent for the game. Jasmine Hassell contributed 11 points and five rebounds, and Meredith Mitchell added nine points, seven rebounds and two steals.

The Lady Dawgs never trailed from the 5:32 mark of the first half after withstanding four ties.

After leading 26-20 at halftime, the Lady Dawgs started the second half with a 8-0 run and never looked back. A three-pointer by Anne Marie Lanning ended the spurt with 12:23 left on the clock.

The closest Middle Tennessee got thereafter was 11 with 2:35 remaining. James connected on both ends of three one-and-one situations to help the Lady Dawgs maintain a comfortable cushion.

Georgia held Ebony Rowe, who averages 17.4 points per game, to just 10 points – all of which she scored in the second period.

Phillips, with 348 rebounds on the season, is three away from matching Janet Harris at No. 5 on the Lady Dawgs' season leaders ledger.

The Lady Dawgs will face Florida State in the second round game on Tuesday at 8:35 p.m. CT.

Lady Dawgs To Dance Too

BASKETBALL

The Georgia Lady Dawgs were awarded a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Monday and will face 11th-seeded Middle Tennessee State on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Auburn, Alabama.

Georgia will face the Blue Raiders in the second game of the evening session at the Auburn Arena, with third-seeded Florida State facing 13th-seeded Samford in the opening contest at 5 p.m. ET.

The Lady Dawgs will be competing their 28th NCAA Tournament – the second most of any team in the nation – and will be making their 17th straight appearance in "March Madness."

"It doesn't get old," head coach Andy Landers said. "I was thinking about it this morning. We've been very fortunate through the years to have the players and teams that have allowed us to play in the NCAAs so many times. I think it's something that you appreciate more and more. I know I do. It's much more competitive and much more difficult to make the field now. It may be more difficult than it was when only 32 teams got in because there are so many more good players and good teams out there now."

Georgia will make the less than three-hour trek to Auburn.

"Hopefully more of our fans will be able to make it, and I know it will be easier for our families to come see us play," senior Porsha Phillips said. "That's very important to all of us."

The Lady Dawgs own an 11-1 lead in their all-time series with Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders earned an at-large bid out of the Sun Belt Conference.

"They're legit. There isn't any question about that," Landers said. "I know they've pretty much dominated their conference the last three or four years. They have been a truly dominant team in their league. Offensively, there always good."

Georgia will be a No. 6 seed for only the second time. In 2005 in Dallas, the Lady Dawgs defeated Rice, 75-49, and upset third-seeded and No. 13-ranked Texas, 70-68, to advance to Regional competition. Georgia then lost to No. 7 Duke in the "Sweet 16" in Chattanooga.

Sunday's winners will meet on Tuesday night for the right to advance to the Dallas Regional.

Dancing Dawgs

BASKETBALL

The Dawgs have been selected as the number 10 seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and will face Washington in Charlotte Friday night.

Tipoff will be at 9:45 pm ET, the winner will face the winner of the North Carolina - Long Island Blackbirds game set for the same day.

Diamond Dawgs Finish Perfect Week

BASEBALL

Georgia blanked Saint Mary’s 3-0 at Dodger Stadium to cap a perfect 5-0 week of baseball including winning the Dodgertown Classic.

The Dawgs posted road wins over 10^th-ranked UCLA, USC and the Gaels along with Mercer in Macon and Alabama in Lawrenceville to even their record at 8-8 on the year. The Gaels dropped to 3-9. The Dawg pitching staff has logged 17 scoreless innings, the final eight over USC Saturday and nine more today.

Junior right fielder Chase Davidson gave the Dawgs a 1-0 lead when he led off the second inning by crushing the first pitch he saw from Kyle Barraclough over the centerfield wall for his second home run of the year. Georgia made it 2-0 in the third. Junior left fielder Peter Verdin began the frame with a double and took third on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Conor Welton. Third baseman Curt Powell’s RBI-single scored Verdin. Georgia looked for a big inning as Levi Hyams followed with a base hit and Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, Barraclough recovered to strikeout Davidson and got Jonathan Hester to pop out to keep it 2-0.

Dawg junior Craig Gullickson started and pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, no walks and struck out four before giving way to junior Ben Cornwell. He pitched one inning and then senior John Herman came on to start the bottom of the seventh after the Dawgs added a run in the top of inning for a 3-0 advantage. Herman pitched one inning and Georgia looked to sophomore Patrick Boling in the eighth and Eric Swegman finished things up in the ninth. They combined to limit the Gaels to five hits on the afternoon. Gullickson evened his record to 1-1 while Barraclough fell to 0-3.

“We had a lot of different guys pitch well this week and that’s encouraging,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “Our offense played well, however we’ve got do a better job with the bases loaded. We had a chance to break open a few of these games and we didn’t. However, some of our guys are not feeling great, there’s a stomach bug going around the club so we got to get healthy. Still, I was pleased with how we played on this trip and throughout the week. This team is playing very inspired right now and they want to win games for Johnathan Taylor, and they are doing just that.”

The Dawgs continue their road trip this week with a Wednesday game at Kennesaw State before Southeastern Conference action begins Friday against nationally-ranked South Carolina in Columbia. First pitch against the Owls is slated for 6:30 p.m.

Fundraising efforts have been established to help offset/cover any medically related expenses for injured University of Georgia junior outfielder Johnathan Taylor.

An account has been set up at First American Bank and Trust (FAB). Donations can be mailed to the following account or dropped off at any FAB location.

First American Bank and Trust, c/o Johnathan Taylor Fund, P.O. Box 1688, Athens, Ga., 30603.

Taylor, a 5-8, 181-pound native of Acworth, Ga., has been transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta to continue his rehabilitation. He sustained a neck injury during last Sunday’s baseball game with Florida State. He underwent neck surgery to stabilize his spine on Monday at St. Mary’s Hospital.

The son of Tandra and John Taylor, he has appeared in 117 games in his career including 91 starts. A Consumer Economics major, he owns a .312 career batting average.