January 18, 2003

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The Virginia Tech women's basketball team had not exactly been road warriors in its past nine BIG EAST road games, dropping all nine. But the Hokies took a big step toward turning that around with a 55-48 victory at West Virginia on Jan. 18. The win snapped Tech's conference road losing streak and improved the team's record to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the BIG EAST. West Virginia dropped to 10-4 and 0-4 in conference.

Junior center Ieva Kublina (Riga, Latvia) paced the Hokies with 18 points and 12 rebounds for her 14th career double-double. Sophomore forward/center Erin Gibson (Galax, Va.) also registered a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman guard Carrie Mason (Seneca, Pa.) tallied 12 points and six rebounds in front of a large contingent of friends and family.

Tech won by dominating the smaller Mountaineers inside. As a team, the Hokies outrebounded the Mountaineers 42-32 while allowing WVU only six free throw attempts for the game.

The teams stood knotted at halftime, 21-21. West Virginia blitzed Tech early in claiming an 18-8 lead. WVU hit on eight of its first 15 shots in the first 11 minutes. During that same span, the Hokies turned the ball over 10 times, due more to sloppy play than WVU's defense.

But the Hokies responded by outscoring the Mountaineers 13-3 over the final nine minutes of the half, drawing even on a Chrystal Starling (Syracuse, NY) jumper with just over a minute remaining. In contrast to the first part of the game, Tech turned the ball over just three times during their run to close out the half.

The second half began with the Hokies picking up right where they left off in the first half. Tech opened with a 10-3 run to claim a 31-24 advantage. But the Mountaineers came back with eight unanswered. The teams swapped buckets until the 4:20 mark when Tech went on an 8-0 run to claim a 51-42 lead with 2:55 remaining. The Hokies hit their free throws down the stretch to secure their third BIG EAST victory of the season.

Yolanda Paige led the Mountaineers with 15 points. Kate Bulger contributed 11 points, but she only shot two 3-pointers against Tech's tough defense. Bulger came into the game averaging five 3-point attempts a game and making almost three. Michelle Carter joined Paige and Bulger in double figures with 11.

Tech's next action will take place on Wednesday, January 22 at Cassell Coliseum when the Hokies welcome Rutgers for yet another critical BIG EAST game. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip.