Georgia Opens Baha Mar Championships with Columbia

GEORGIA LADY BULLDOGS Head Coach: Coach ABE Career Record: 397-170 (19th year) Record at Georgia: 25-13 (2nd year)

COLUMBIA LIONS Head Coach: Megan Griffith Career Record: 101-79 (8th year) Record at Columbia (Same)

 

GEORGIA	2023-24 STATISTICS	COLUMBIA
70.8	POINTS PER GAME	71.8
41.4	FG%	43.4
25.5	3FG%	29.0
63.7	FT%	76.2
43.3	REBOUNDS PER GAME	38.3
14.3	ASSISTS PER GAME	17.0
4.3	BLOCKS PER GAME	2.8
9.3	STEALS PER GAME	8.8
62.8	SCORING DEFENSE	67.3
32.7	FG% DEFENSE	40.7
28.8	3FG% DEFENSE	27.9
-1.8	REBOUND MARGIN	+3.3
1.1	AST - TO RATIO	1.0

 
» Georgia faces Columbia in the first game of the 2023 Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship this Monday at 11 a.m. ET. The game will be televised on FloHoops.com.

» Columbia won the 2023 Ivy League Championship after boasting an impressive 28-6 record last season. Monday's matchup will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

» Georgia's first five opponents averaged 20.4 wins during last year's campaign. Three of the five opponents won 20 or more games last season.

» The Lady Bulldogs have switched up the starting five in the last two games, with Destiny Thomas and Stefanie Ingram earning their first starts in a Georgia uniform. Javyn Nicholson and Zoesha Smith have been productive coming off the bench for Georgia.

» Georgia has had at least three players score in double figures in every game this season. De'Mauri Flournoy and Nicholson have been included in all four contributions.

» The Lady Bulldogs were the only SEC squad to not have a single player enter the transfer portal this past offseason.

» Georgia is in its second season under the leadership of Coach ABE. ABE's successful first year included a NCAA tournament appearance, 22 wins, and a fifth-place finish in the final SEC standings.

» With a 397-170 overall mark, Coach ABE is just three wins shy of 400. Her teams have won 20 or more games in 11-straight seasons, while her 12 NCAA tournament appearances rank third among active SEC coaches, only behind Kim Mulkey (LSU) and Dawn Staley (South Carolina).

» All-SEC candidate Javyn Nicholson returns to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Nicholson doubled her points per game and upped her rebound average by three in her first year playing for Coach ABE.

» Joining six returning letterwinners and nine overall returning players is a quartet of newcomers. Transfers Asia Avinger and Taniyah Thompson were each All-Conference performers at previous schools, while Destiny Thomas led UCF with a double-double of 10.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game last year. Miyah Verse is Georgia's lone true freshman this season.

» Georgia is in search of its 37th NCAA tournament appearance this season. The Lady Bulldogs' 36 trips are tied for the second most among all programs.

» Georgia is one of three programs nationwide, joining Wisconsin Green Bay and Tennessee, to never have a losing record in a season.
 
Georgia has already signed four top-100 players in the 2024 class. Indya and Summer Davis — twin sisters from Farmington Hills, Michigan — along with Mia Woolfolk (Midlothian, Virginia) and Trinity Turner (Orlando, Fla.) signed with the Lady Bulldogs earlier this week. All four players are four star prospects and ranked in the top-100 nationally, marking the first time since 2017 the program has signed four top-100 players.
 
Georgia was one of a handful of teams to not have a single player enter the transfer portal this offseason. Six letterwinners off last year's team, as well as redshirt-freshmen Savannah Henderson, Stefanie Ingram and Fatima Diakhate, return to go along with three transfers (Asia Avinger, Taniyah Thompson and Destiny Thomas) and a freshman (Miyah Verse).
 
Fifth-year senior forward Javyn Nicholson had a breakout season in her first year playing for Coach ABE. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native more than doubled per points per game average (from 4.5 to 9.5) and increased her rebounds by three (from 4.0 to 7.0) compared to her previous three college seasons. Nicholson is Georgia's leading returning rebounder and scorer.
 
Jordan Cole returned for her fifth year in the red and black. Formerly Jordan Isaacs, she changed her legal last name to Cole after her stepfather, Brian Cole, adopted her on Oct. 4, 2023.

"I've created an identity behind the last name Isaacs, who I am on the court and off the court and just me as a person. It's very safe and familiar," said Jordan, who started 25 games last season. "I hate to see it go, because it is a part of me, who I became and who I'm going to become, but I definitely think this is the next big step in my life. It's going to open new doors for me, it's going to help me put myself out there. Me and the coaching staff ... we made a joke that this is just a new version of me, like a new player, new person. There's nothing wrong with Jordan Isaacs, but there's always room for growth."
 
Senior forward Zoesha Smith and fifth-year guard Chloe Chapman also bring experience to the Lady Bulldogs' roster this year. Smith set new career highs in four of her first five games last year, including a career-best 21-point effort against Georgia Tech. Chapman is an experienced point guard who drew 27 starts in 33 games a year ago.
 
Georgia welcomes a trio of transfers to this year's roster in Asia Avinger (San Diego State), Taniyah Thompson (Penn State) and Destiny Thomas (UCF). Avinger was an All-Mountain West Team selection as one of just three players nationwide to average over 11 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting at least 45 percent from the field. Thompson was a first-team All-American Athletic Conference performer at East Carolina, before transferring to Penn State. She finished second in The American in scoring with 18.5 ppg during the 2021-22 season. Thomas averaged a double-double and led UCF in both scoring and rebounding last year. She averaged an impressive 11 boards per contest, including a school-record 24-rebound effort, to lead the Knights.
 
Destiny Thomas led the Knights in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals a season ago. She brought down double-digit rebounds in 18 games and 15 or more boards seven times. Thomas tied the UCF record with 24 rebounds in a game against Seton Hall, as she finished second nationally with 5.0 offensive rebounds per contest. In 36 career starts, Thomas has recorded double-digit rebound totals 13 times – a near 40 percent average.
 
Asia Avinger, who transferred from San Diego State, was one of just three players nationally to average 11.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting at least 45 percent from the field. Avinger went to SDSU as the No. 16-ranked point guard in the class of 2020, earning her the honor of Preseason Mountain West Freshman of the Year. She led all conference freshmen in both scoring and assists with 12.9 points and 3.0 dimes per game, earning her a spot on the All-Freshman Team, before she put together an impressive sophomore campaign.
 
Georgia welcomes one true freshman this year in Arizona product Miyah Verse. A member of ESPN's Super 60 as one of the top 60 prospects nationally, Verse prepped at national powerhouse Arizona Elite Prep and Mountain Ridge High in Peoria, Ariz.

Verse was also a track star in high school, earning the state title in the discus throw. Her brother Jared is a defensive lineman on the Florida State football team.
 
Georgia led the SEC in steals last season with 10.5 per game. It marked the 10th time in the last 13 years that Coach ABE's teams have led their respective conference in steals. It was also the first occasion since the 2005-06 season – a span of 17 years – that Georgia led the SEC in steals.

Before taking the head coaching job at Georgia, Coach ABE's UCF squad led the nation in scoring defense for two straight years from 2020-22.
 
While the defense garners a good bit of attention at Georgia, the Lady Bulldogs also saw success offensively last season. In the game at Vanderbilt, Georgia shot 67 percent from the field – the program's best offensive output since 1998 and the second-best shooting percentage against an SEC team in school history. The Lady Bulldogs scored 80 or more points in five games last year – the second most for Georgia over the last five years.
 
Georgia entered the 2023-24 season one of just three programs nationwide, joining Tennessee and Wisconsin-Green Bay, to have a winning season every year since 1981. The Lady Bulldogs have made appearances in 36 of 41 NCAA tournaments (second-most all time) with 20 Sweet 16s and 11 Elite Eights.
 
Georgia guard Chloe Chapman is the founder and CEO of Create What You Can't Have (CWUCH) -- a successful fashion merchandising company.

"CWUCH was created to represent originality. This is for people who aspire to be unique and have their own style. High quality clothing for streetwear lovers." -- Chloe Chapman
 
Miyah Verse's brother, Jared Verse, is a junior defensive lineman on the Florida State football team. The highly recruited prospect was a first-team All-American selection by The Athletic during the 2022 football season. Verse leads FSU with 4.5 sacks this year.