UGA Lady Bulldogs back in NCAAs with high hopes: ‘We have a chance of winning it’

Pick your best moves. The Georgia Lady Bulldogs are going dancing.

Georgia learned its NCAA tournament fate on Monday night while watching the selection show inside its friendly confines of Stegeman Coliseum. The Lady Bulldogs are a No. 3 seed and will face No. 14 Drexel in the opening round of this year’s tournament — being held in “bubble” environment in San Antonio, Texas.

Drexel finished the 2020-21 season with a 14-8 record. The game is slated for Monday, March 22 at noon. Oregon, as a No. 6 seed, is in the game above Georgia’s against No. 11 South Dakota.

The other top seeds in Georgia’s side of the bracket, the Alamo Region, are Stanford, Louisville and Arkansas.

“We can go really, really far,” Georgia head coach Joni Taylor said during a post-watch party news conference. “What the SEC tournament proved to us is that we are one of the best teams in the country and we have the opportunity to go compete for another championship.”

Georgia earned its spot on the No. 3 seed line for the first time since 2007. The program made Final Four appearances as a No. 3 seed in 1995 and 1999.

“You’re going to play against the best 64 teams in the country,” Taylor said on March 7 after the SEC championship loss to South Carolina. “It’s going to take everybody, the same toughness and grit that we’ve had and played with.”

The NCAA tournament berth and high seed comes after a 20-6 campaign. The Lady Bulldogs had signature SEC wins over Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Georgia also received a top-10 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll on Monday for the first time since Dec. 31, 2010.

Georgia returns to its routine destination of the NCAA tournament — 34 appearances in 39 years — after missing the field of 64 in consecutive seasons. The program’s rebound and 20-win season won the SEC Coach of the Year honor for Taylor, the first time a Georgia coach won the honors since Andy Landers did so in 1996.

“We’re very excited,” senior Maya Caldwell said. “We weren’t jumping up and down like the other teams. We had practice today and were a little tired. This is business.”

Georgia enters the NCAA tournament on a run. The Lady Bulldogs made a run in the SEC tournament in Greenville, with consecutive victories and their first conference championship appearance since 2004. South Carolina narrowly beat Georgia, 67-62.

“I really legitimately think we have a chance of winning it,” senior point guard Gabby Connally said. “We’re deep and dangerous, that’s what gives us a shot at getting to the Final Four and winning the whole thing.

“We’re capable. More than capable,” Caldwell said of making a run. “We have everything we need.”

The Lady Bulldogs boast their experience with four senior starters and a deep, talented bench to put them in a position to make a postseason run. Georgia is led by Jenna Staiti with 14.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, but has three players averaging double-digit scoring. Maya Caldwell, averaging 8.6 points per game, is the team’s hottest contributor with an average of 18.2 points per game over her last four contests.

“It starts with Drexel,” Taylor said. “My focus is on Drexel.”

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: Georgia vs. Drexel

Who: No. 3 Georgia (20-6) vs. No. 14 Drexel (14-8)

Where: St. Mary’s University in San Antonio

When: Noon Monday, March 22

TV: ESPN2

This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 7:27 PM.