January 2, 1999

ATLANTA - Freshman Niesha Butler scored a career-high 40 points - the third-highest point total in Georgia Tech history - as the Yellow Jackets downed Florida State 92-70 in Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at McDonald's Center.

The game was delayed for 23 minutes midway through the second half when a power surge knocked out the arena lights with 13:55 to play in the contest. The game started nine minutes late due to a similar blackout.

After play resumed, the Yellow Jackets (9-3, 2-1) outscored the Seminoles (5-7, 0-3) 43-28 in the final 13:55 with Butler contributing 20 of Tech's 43 points down the stretch.

"I think that this was a huge win for our program," said Georgia Tech head coach Agnus Berenato. "I was really proud of the way we responded after the light outage. I was nervous because I've been through that as a coach before, although it was for a much longer period of time. It was an ACC Tournament game, and I had time to call my college coach and ask him some opinions as far as Xs and Os were concerned."

The last time the lights went out on Berenato and the Jackets came in the first round of the 1994 ACC Tournament against North Carolina in Rock Hill, S.C. That game was delayed an hour and 15 minutes after an auto accident on a main street downed a power line and knocked out the lights in the city. Tech ended up falling to the Tar Heels 78-55.

"We were winning by nine at the time against Carolina, and it really affected us and took us out of our game," Berenato said. "The mentality of these ladies is a lot different than the mentalities that we've had in the past. I thought they really hung tough.

"Obviously Niesha did a tremendous job. Some of her moves were major-league, big-time moves."

Butler became the first Tech player to score 40 or more points in a single game since Kisha Ford scored 41 against East Tennessee State in her freshman campaign of 1993-94. Butler's performance was the third-highest total in school history and the most ever against an ACC opponent. Marielle Walker holds the school record for most points in a game with 43 which came against Iona on Dec. 20, 1987.

"Whatever worked, I stuck to it," said Butler, whose previous career-high was 27 at North Carolina Dec. 3. "We just knew that being a young team we had to keep our composure. We were up by the time lights went out, and we had the momentum. I just wanted to come out and continue to set the tone. That's what I tried to do."

Butler finished 12-of-25 from the floor and 14-of-17 from the foul line. She also canned a pair of three-pointers, pulled down nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

Senior Kenya Williams added 15 points for the Yellow Jackets, and sophomore Jaime Kruppa came off the bench to score 10.

Tech lead by seven at 49-42 before the lights went out in the second half. The Yellow Jackets picked up where they left off when play resumed and stretched their lead to 17 at 63-46 with 10:55 left.

"It's not like we felt comfortable with a double-digit lead," Berenato said. "There was still more than 10 minutes left on the clock. I thought it was an eternity.

"I was actually hoping the lights would go out again."