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Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball: Jackets start ACC Tournament bid against Clemson

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 05: ACC Women's Tournament logo on a basketball stanchion during a game between Pitt and Georgia Tech at Greensboro Coliseum on March 05, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 05: ACC Women's Tournament logo on a basketball stanchion during a game between Pitt and Georgia Tech at Greensboro Coliseum on March 05, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /
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Georgia Tech women’s basketball will start their hopeful run for an ACC Tournament Championship on Friday night. The first team standing in the Jackets’ way will be the No.11 seed Clemson Tigers who advanced to the quarterfinals with a 68-63 win over the No.6 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Jackets enter Friday night, playing for the first time since Sunday when they finished the regular season with a 65-60 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers. Their 14-7 record overall including 12-6 in conference play was enough to earn the Jackets the No.3 seed in the ACC Tournament. The only teams above them being the 21-2 Louisville Cardinals and 17-2 NC State Wolfpack.

The Jackets’ strong season earned Nell Fortner, ACC Coach of the Year honors, the sixth Coach of the Year honor she’s won during her coaching career. She was also named the Basketball Times National Coach as well as the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1997 during her time with Purdue. The USA Basketball Coach of the year in 2000, when she led the 2000 Olympic team to a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics while also earning both the SEC Coach of the Year and WBCA Region III Coach of the Year honors in 2009 with Tennessee.

The Jackets faced the Tigers two other times this year, both resulting in wins. On January 7th, the Jackets took care of business easily on the road, defeating the Tigers 67-55. Their last meeting on February 4, however, was much more different, with the two teams going down to the wire with Tech pulling out a 71-69 win.

Friday night’s matchup should be another good game between the two. The Jackets will look to knock off any rust early while Clemson will need to manage their energy levels early as they play for a second-straight day.

Tip-off on Friday night is currently scheduled for 8:30 p.m. but since it is the last game of the day, it is possible that game time does get pushed back a bit on Friday.