February 28, 2004

Virginia Tech Box Score

Virginia Tech 85, Pittsburgh 55

 

The Virginia Tech women's basketball team saw four starters score in double figures and the Hokies blistered the nets, shooting 63.8 percent from the floor in hammering Pittsburgh 85-55 in a BIG EAST game in front of 6,364 fans at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. The attendance stood as the ninth largest in Cassell Coliseum history for a women's basketball game.

The win marked Tech's third straight after a humbling and rare home loss to Miami two weeks ago. With the win, Tech improved to 20-6 on the season, marking the seventh consecutive year - all under head coach Bonnie Henrickson - that the Hokies have won at least 20 games. Tech also improved to 9-6 in the BIG EAST.

"That's consistency and that's what we ask every day from our players," Henrickson said of the 20-win seasons. "And that's what we want every year for this program. It's nice to do this in the regular season. It's been a while since we've done that. So they [the players] should be very proud, not just that they did it this year, but that they've continue the tradition of being consistently successful."

The Hokies wasted little time in messing around with the Panthers (6-19, 2-13), one of the league's worst teams. Tech only trailed once - 2-0 - and used a 12-1 run midway through the first half to open a 13-point bulge. Using eight points each from the inside tandem of Ieva Kublina and Erin Gibson, the Hokies led by as many as 17 in the first half and by 10 at halftime.

In the second half, Tech blew things wide open, opening the half by going on a 20-5 run and taking a 25-point lead on a lay-up by Kerri Gardin with 11:57 left in the game. Henrickson started substituting liberally and did so through the game.

Tech's stingy defense held Pittsburgh to just 34.9 percent shooting from the floor and forced 21 turnovers. The Hokies scored 25 points off those turnovers and consistently broke Pittsburgh's press, which led to numerous easy baskets - and a fat shooting percentage.

Tech's 63.8 percent from the floor marked the best this season and the best ever for the Hokies in a BIG EAST game.

"We had the height advantage of them, so we were able to get some good looks," Gibson said. "We got a lot of easy baskets in transition and then [Carrie] Mason hit a bunch of shots from the outside."

"I was really pleased with our passing and the shots we got," Henrickson said. "We made the extra pass and got some great looks."

Mason led the Hokies with 14 points, going 6-for-6 from the floor, including 2-for-2 from beyond the 3-point arc. Gibson added 13 on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor, while Kublina and Dawn Chriss finished with 10 each.

Pittsburgh was led by Katie Histed, who scored 16 points. LaToya Kincaid added 12.

Kublina, the senior from Riga, Latvia, also finished with nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. She made six free throws, passing Jenny Root into sixth place on the all-time free throws made list (330), and she needs just two rebounds to pass Root into second place on the career rebounds list.

The Hokies went into the game in eighth place in the BIG EAST standings and hope to move up a spot to avoid a potential match-up with top-seeded UConn in the second round. However, Tech would win very few of the tiebreaker scenarios.

"That's the way it is," Henrickson said. "We played ourselves into that by losing to West Virginia and Miami. We accept the responsibility and we're not pointing the finger. This is the world we live in. And it's also a credit to the league we play in, too."

Tech's final game of the regular season comes Tuesday night when St. John's comes to town. The game will be the final regular-season home game for Tech's seniors Kublina, Brandy Fowler and Davina Simmons. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.