March 24, 2003

Box Score

Virginia Tech 62, Purdue 80

 

West Lafayette, Ind. - The Virginia Tech women's basketball team played a good game offensively, but had no answer for Erika Valek and the many weapons of the Purdue Boilermakers as the Hokies fell 80-62 and ended their season 22-10. Purdue improved to 28-5 and moves on to the Sweet 16.

The Hokies were able to shut down Purdue's All-Big Ten first-teamer Shereka Wright, holding her to just nine points, with seven of those coming from the foul line. But Valek picked up the slack, scoring 24 and blistering the Hokies from all over the floor, going 10-of-16 from the floor.

While Wright could do little against Tech, Ieva Kublina (Riga, Latvia), Tech's first team All-BIG EAST center, could do little against Purdue. Kublina was held to just five points and did not score until the 12:57 mark of the second half.

"The main thing we emphasized in practice was to limit her (Kublina's) touches and when she did get it, double with the four or five," Purdue center Mary Jo Noon said. "The credit there goes to Carol Duncan and Emily Heikes (Purdue's reserve post players)."

"They had a great game plan in limiting Ieva's touches," head coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "On our end, we were trying to limit Wright's touches, and with each of them only getting five shots, it came down to which team would make fewer mistakes, and they did."

Both teams shot the ball very well to start the game, but a combination of Tech turnovers and an inability to fight through Purdue's multiple screens led to more open looks for the Boilermakers. They took advantage of those looks, knocking down 5-of-6 3-point attempts and 55 percent from the floor for the first half. Tech actually shot the ball better (57 percent), but 11 empty possessions left the Hokies down 41-30 at the half.

Purdue scored the first six points of the second half to expand the lead to 47-30. The Hokies went on a 17-5 run to cut the lead to five points, but that was as close as they'd come. The teams traded baskets down the stretch until Tech was forced to foul late in the game.

Both teams torched the nets as the Hokies shot 54.9 percent for the game while the Boilermakers shot 49.1 percent. But 20 Tech turnovers compared to Purdue's 10 really made the difference. Purdue scored 28 points off of Tech's turnovers to just 13 points by the Hokies off of Boilermaker turnovers. Purdue also tied a season-high with eight 3-pointers made, converting 8-of-11 (72.7 percent). Even Noon, Purdue's 6-foot-5 center, sunk one after not attempting one previously in her career.

Chrystal Starling (Syracuse, NY) led the Hokies with 16 points on 7-of 12 shooting. Freshman Kerri Gardin (Morganton, NC) scored 12 and Erin Gibson (Galax, Va.) contributed 10. For Purdue, Noon scored 17 points and Lindsey Hicks chipped in 10. Beth Jones went perfect in the game, going 5-for-5 from the field, 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 3-for 3 from the free-throw line for a grand total of 16 points.

The loss marked the end of the careers for seniors Starling and Emily Lipton (Crofton, Md.).

"For any senior that makes it this far, and it gets down to the closing minutes and you know you're not going to win, it's hard," Starling said. "But I don't have any regrets and I'm looking forward to next year and watching these guys play."