The buckets just wouldn’t fall
In the first round of Georgia Tech’s 12 NCAA Tournament appearance, #9-seed Georgia Tech fell to the #8-seed Richmond Spiders 74-49 at Pauley Pavilion on UCLA’s campus. The loss is Tech’s second consecutive first round loss dating back to their previous NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022 against Kansas. The win is Richmond’s first ever NCAA Tournament win and first ever win over Georgia Tech in three meetings.
Richmond came in #1 nationally in eFG% per Bart Torvik at 58.1%, and it showed in the performance of Maggie Doogan who led all players with 30 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists with five made threes.
Three of her triples came in a powerful first quarter that left Tech scrambling with no answers as they went down 19-7 shooting just 20% and getting outrebounded 13-8. Despite finding some defensive rhythm in the second quarter, Tech had gone down 20 points and continually battled from too far behind to make a serious run at challenging Richmond’s lead.
Problems were everywhere for Tech. Richmond shot 50% to Tech’s 32%. In multiple occassions, Tech was frequently one and done on the offensive end, allowing Richmond to run downhill and play at their pace and style. Critically, Richmond was very long in the paint, eliminating easy routes to the glass for Tonie Morgan and others (which makes sense considering Richmond is #1 nationally in opponent free throw rate, they just don’t get in situations to foul).
Richmond had runs of 12-0, 11-0, 8-0, 9-0, and 7-0 throughout the game while Tech had one solitary 10-0 run in the second quarter. Momentum never went toward Tech in a sustained way. Richmond played such clean and effective basketball with size and speed that kept Tech off balance all night.
In the end, Tech finishes 22-11, a historic season that saw them win 15 straight games to open the season, a program record long win streak that brought them as high as #13 in the AP Poll. It’s the most wins in a season under Nell Fortner at Tech, who earned a three year contract extension this season to remain Tech’s head coach through 2030.
But, in the second half of the season, Tech did not have firepower needed to hold serve with the elite teams of the ACC, including nearly losing to a couple basement dwellers in the conference as well. After starting 15-0, Tech went 7-11 with a variety of heartbreaking losses to good teams (NC State at the ACC Tournament) and confounding ones like this.
We’d say we know who’s coming back next year, but with how unregulated the transfer portal is, we don’t want to give any guarantees. We do although expect the main core to return: Tonie Morgan, Ines Noguero, Kara Dunn, Chit-Chat Wright, Dani Carnegie, and Ari Termis.
How It Happened
1Q
Tonie Morgan hit Zoe Smith on a good cut to the basket to kick things off, but both offenses had a frantic vibe to them in the first few minutes of the game before settling in. Tonie Morgan’s three point bucket was the only pure jumper hit by either team going into the first media timeout where Richmond led 6-5 with both teams shooting under 35%.
Out of the timeout, Tech could not find a bucket to save their lives and were helpless in the face of Maggie Doogan’s shooting. She shot 3-4 from 3PT and scored 11 points that powered a 12-0 Richmond run that put the Spiders up 14-5. Her third three put Richmond up 10 at 17-7. With Tech only shooting 20%, the transition opportunities were aplenty for Richmond. Nell played Ari Termis for most of the quarter despite not starting her to deal with Richmond’s interior size, so they beat us from deep instead.
Stats via NCAA
2Q (19-7 Richmond)
Despite a Dani Carnegie three to open the second, Richmond kept on the gas, going on a 7-0 run early where Tech looked lost defensively and not making smart offensive decisions to force Tech’s first timeout. The run stretched to 11-0, Richmond going up 20 points before Ines Noguero hit a three to finally stop that scoring run, but Doogan responded immediately with 4th three to make it 33-13.
After a media timeout, Tech’s defensive intensity found its shape, forcing a shot clock violation and a 3-second violation to power a 10-0 Jacket run over four minutes with baskets from Noguero (on a steal n’ score), Wright, and Blackshear that gave Tech their first bit of real life in the game.
Stats via NCAA
Kieffer Milligan – FTRS
3Q (35-23 Richmond)
Tech came out of halftime finally getting Kara Dunn on the scoresheet who had missed six field goals in the first half. Richmond got early buckets from Addie Budnik and Doogan to keep Tech 15 points back. After a couple defensive fouls on Tech that at least stopped Richmond’s offensive flow a little bit, both Wright and Carnegie hit shots to make it a 42-30 game before Budnik hit her second three of the quarter.
Budnik’s bucket started a 7-0 for Richmond that Tech had seven seperate shots on two consecutive possessions to stop, but despite a flurry of offensive rebounds, Tech could not get a single bucket to land. That extended to the free throw line where Tonie Morgan at the 2:24 mark became the first person to shoot any free throws in the game, missing both. Eventually she scored a layup to cut Richmond’s run at 9-0 with 2:00 left, but a couple posessions later made contact with Doogan’s face defending a shot, resulting in a technical foul. Doogan hit the pair of free throws after to take a 19 point lead into the 4th.
Stats via NCAA
4Q (53-34 Richmond)
It was all garbage time as Richmond went up as many as 26 points in the final period.
Stats & Game Leaders
Stats via NCAA
Game Leaders
Points: Maggie Doogan (RICH) – 30
Rebounds: Maggie Doogan (RICH) – 15
Assists: Maggie Doogan (RICH) – 6
3PTM: Maggie Doogan (RICH) – 5