January 19, 2002

The Virginia Tech women's basketball team did not look especially sharp at times, but was good enough to knock off BIG EAST foe St. John's 69-50 on Jan. 19 in Cassell Coliseum. The win ups Tech's record to 15-2 overall, 5-0 in the BIG EAST, while St. John's drops to 3-14 overall and 0-6 in conference play.

Tech came out hot in the early goings, connecting on its first 9-of-11shots and opening up a 23-6 lead to start the game. The Hokies shot the ball at a 64 percent clip in the first half and appeared to put the Red Storm away early in front of the 2,228 fans that braved the elements to attend the game. The Hokies also used first-half runs of 8-0 and 8-2 in building a 39-20 halftime lead. Tech held the Red Storm to just 29.6 percent shooting (8-of-27) in the opening half.

Tech was content to sit on its lead in the second half, and came out flat as a result. The Hokies shot just 28.6 percent in the second frame and the Red Storm went on a 10-2 run to come within 12 points, but got no closer. The game was not especially physical, but was tightly called. Both teams were in the bonus by the 12:30 mark of the second half. The teams combined for 44 fouls in the game, 29 of those coming in the second half.

Offensively, the Hokies spread the wealth in this game with five players scoring nine points or more. Chrystal Starling (Syracuse, NY) led the Tech cause with 16 points and a career-high six steals. Nicole Jones (Vienna, Va.) scored 12 points while Sarah Hicks (Roanoke, Va.) chipped in 11. Ieva Kublina (Riga, Latvia) and Erin Gibson (Galax, Va.) each contributed nine points for the Hokies. Point guard Emily Lipton (Crofton, Md.) tied a career-high with eight assists.

Patrycja Gulak led the Red Storm with 13 points and six rebounds while Shemika Stevens tallied 11points. Starling and Hicks held Rasheedah Brown, the Red Storm's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, to just eight points for the game. She spent nearly 10 minutes of the second half on the bench with foul trouble.

Tech's next action will come on Jan. 23 when the Hokies travel north to take on Syracuse. The Hokies have already beaten the scrappy Orangewomen once this season, 62-56, at Cassell Coliseum on Jan. 5. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff.