No. 14 Georgia Tech follows up UNC shutdown with dominance of Boston College

ATLANTA - The No. 14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets rode the hot hand of Eylia Love to an emphatic 68-49 win at home over the Boston College Eagles on Thursday night. Love had 20 points (9-of-14 shooting) and eight rebounds.

The Yellow Jackets have won three games in a row and now have 11 wins at McCamish Pavilion, where they have only lost twice. This past Sunday they held the UNC Tar Heels to just 38 points at McCamish in a 17-point win.

Thursday’s game served as a defensive showcase for the nation's top defense and especially Naismith Defensive Player of the Year candidate Lorela Cubaj.

“As a 6’4”, high-motor, competitive athlete, that’s hard to contend with on either end of the floor, so I’m happy she’s on our team,” Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner said.

It was a true team effort for Georgia Tech, as they had 24 assists as a team, which enabled them to shoot 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range.

“When everybody gets touches and everyone is able to have fun and do things like that and everyone’s getting reps and things like that, we’re appreciative of everyone being able to score and the system’s good because it just makes us look good,” Love said.

Georgia Tech improves to 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the ACC while Boston College drops to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the conference.

Aside from Love, the Yellow Jackets were led by Nerea Hermosa’s 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists as well as Cubaj’s six points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and three blocks. The Eagles were led by Marietta native Cameron Swartz, who had 14 points, as well as Taylor Soule’s 11 points and Marnelle Garraud’s 10 points.

The game was close early on, as both teams were shooting over 40 percent from the field at one point in the first quarter and Ally VanTimmeren was hot for the Eagles as she had eight points and had made both of her 3-pointers.

Georgia Tech began to pull away in the second quarter as Love scored 10 points in the period, outscoring the entire BC team, which only had six. Despite having no points in the frame, Cubaj made her presence felt with two straight offensive rebounds and a block within a minute.

After the Yellow Jackets led 35-20 at halftime, Cubaj, Hermosa and Lotta-Maj Lahtinen combined for 15 points and seven assists in the third quarter, overwhelming Swartz’s effort to keep her team in the game.

The Eagles trailed 52-34 entering the final period. Swartz and Garraud combined for 10 points in the fourth quarter to try and bring them back, but the overall team performance of Georgia Tech was simply too much to handle.

Both teams will be making in-conference road trips on Sunday as Boston College heads to South Bend to take on the No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Tech travels across the border to face the Clemson Tigers.