January 20, 2001

The Virginia Tech women's basketball team put on a dominating performance in defeating the Georgetown Hoyas 79-50 on January 20th at Cassell Coliseum. With the win, Tech improved to 12-5 on the season and 3-3 in the BIG EAST. Georgetown dropped to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the BIG EAST.

Ieva Kublina paced the Hokies with a career-high19 points on 7 of 12 shooting. She also snagged seven rebounds, six of which came off of the offensive glass. The 6-foot-4 freshman made Georgetown pay from deep, knocking down 3 of 4 from beyond the 3-point arc.

"Ieva's doing a great job for us this year," senior Tere Williams said. "She's proven that she can do it (shoot the 3) time and time again. She's not missing many."

A 15-3 run midway through the first half gave Tech an 11-point lead that they never relinquished. Georgetown could only come as close as six points for the remainder of the game. A 14-1 run midway through the second pushed Tech's advantage to 25 and the game was all but sealed.

Tech won the game with a mix of smothering defense and, what was for them, an offensive explosion. The Hokies came into the game averaging just 60 points per game in BIG EAST contests, but shot 54.7% en route to the victory.

Georgetown's All-America candidate, Katie Smrcka-Duffy, was held to just 12 points by the combined efforts of Amy Wetzel and Chrystal Starling. Smrcka-Duffy scored seven points in the first half and added her final five late in the game when the outcome was decided.

"I thought we forced tough shots, we gave good help and played good team defense today," head coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Williams, Tech's own All-American candidate, scored 17 points and collected eight rebounds. She was well on her way to a double-double, but foul trouble kept her on the bench much of the second half. Sarah Hicks also contributed 15 points and seven rebounds in the victory.

Tech next takes the court on Jan. 23 at Cassell Coliseum when they host BIG EAST foe Villanova at 7:00 p.m.