January 2, 2005

Box Score

Virginia Tech 77, No. 17 Maryland 67

 

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech women's basketball team defeated Maryland, 77-67, to open its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference in surprising style, upsetting the No. 17-ranked Terrapins at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Sunday afternoon.

It was the best start to a new year the Hokies could have asked for, knocking off their second ranked opponent of the season, while moving to 10-2 overall, 1-0 in the ACC.

The Terrapins fall to 10-2 overall, 0-1 in the ACC after suffering only their second loss of the season, their first by an unranked opponent.

The Hokies had four players in double figures when the clock hit triple-zero, but were led by junior point guard Carrie Mason's 16 points and four assists. Mason was 3-of-5 from beyond the arch and shot 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Also in double figures was senior post Erin Gibson, whose dominating performance in the paint gave the Hokies the advantage over the Terrapins. Along with her game-high three blocks and three steals, she added 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting form the floor and totaled four rebounds.

Gibson is now sixth place all-time at Virginia Tech with 96 career blocks. She began the season with 79 in three seasons on the Blacksburg hardwood and leads the Hokies with 17 this season.

Virginia Tech sophomore Brittany Anderson tied her career-high with 12 points in the game and junior Dawn Chriss totaled 11 points in the victory.

The Terrapins were led by freshman Crystal Langhorne with 23 points and seven rebounds in the game.

Also in double figures for Maryland was guard Shay Doron who scored 17 points, totaled three steals and three rebounds. Doron was 8-for-11 at the free-throw line, and took three of Maryland's five three-pointer attempts, making one.

The Hokies never trailed in the game and took a five-point lead after Mason hit her first three-pointer of the night to make the score 9-4. She would follow it up on the next possession with another three, to make the score 12-4.

Tech would by as many as eight points throughout the first half, until Mason's third shot from beyond the arch pushed the score to 36-26 with 43 seconds left. As the clock ticked down, Maryland would be unable to make a dent before time expired.

The halftime deficit was only the second this season for the Terrapins, who had led in 10 of 11 games heading into the contest with the Hokies.

Virginia Tech kept the hot hand after the break, increasing their lead to 17 points after a jumper by Chriss. But with 10:44 left in the game, Maryland went on a 15-3 run during a seven-minute span to cut the lead down to two points after a jumper by Langhorne.

The Hokies bent but didn't break, bouncing back in the last two minutes to take a 10 point lead, before finishing the game ahead, 77-67, after two free-throws by Chriss to seal the victory.

For the game, the Hokies held the Terrapins to 36 percent shooting on a 24-of-66 clip from the floor, compared to Tech who hit on 45 percent of its shots on 28-of-62 shooting.

Maryland won the battle of the boards with 45 rebounds to Virginia Tech's 39, and scored 23 second chance points, to the Hokies' 15 second chance points.

The Hokies bench again flexed its muscles and showed the maroon and orange's depth with all 11 players seeing time and scoring 25 points. The Maryland bench only scored 19 points in the game.

The Hokies now prepare for Fordham who travels to Blacksburg on Jan. 6, for a 7 p.m. contest in Cassell Coliseum, before Tech heads to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face the Blue Devils of Duke for the first-time ever as conference rivals on Jan. 9, at 2 p.m.