What was a good home win for the Georgia women’s basketball team could have been a rout, were it not for turnovers and missed free throws throughout the game.

The Lady Bulldogs committed 11 of their season-high 19 turnovers in a sloppy first half and shot just 42 percent from the free-throw line. But, head coach Andy Landers said he was not worried about the careless ball-handling.

“We’ve got [our players] running up and down, the way we want them running up and down,” Landers said. “And their reads aren’t there yet. This is usually what happens when a team starts running for the first time.”

In the second half, the Lady Bulldogs moved sophomore Angela Puleo to the primary ball-handling position while Ashley Houts played off the ball. The change resulted in a more fluid second stanza and will be a necessary part of the game plan for Friday’s clash against in-state rival Georgia Tech.

“I’m going to have do it against Georgia Tech, so I got some repetitions [tonight],” Puleo said. “[Houts] at the wing, she is going to get some open looks, so I am going to have to handle the ball. We need to improve [on the turnovers]. We’re new at this fast-paced thing, and I feel that once we get used to it, our turnovers will in turn go down.”

“We needed to be ready in case we needed someone else to step in,” Landers said. “She did it some last year, and I thought tonight was a great night to do it.”

Puleo notched four second-half assists and zero turnovers. She finished the game with seven assists. Puleo attributed her success to pre-season practice against Houts.

“The funny thing about [playing point tonight] is that I came in [as a freshman] playing against [Houts] in practice last year,” she said. “I’m used to it but definitely not as much as [Houts] is.”