November 16, 2001

The Virginia Tech women's basketball team opened the 2001-02 season with a 76-62 victory over the Richmond Spiders Friday night in Cassell Coliseum. Tech's bench played an entrical part in the win, with the Hokies outscoring the Spiders 34-14 and outrebounding the visitors 22-14.

Tech (1-0) overcame a poor shooting first half to light up the score board in the second. The Hokies missed their first 10 shots from the field and spotted the Spiders a 10-2 lead before Chrystal Starling scored Tech's first field goal of the night at the 15:12 mark. The Hokies would regain their shooting touch as the half wore on, with Hicks and Starling scoring seven points apiece. Hicks would tie the game at 24 she hit a three-pointer right before the halftime buzzer.

The Hokies put the game away in the second half thanks to good defense and hot shooting. Tech improved their first half shooting percentage from 31.0 percent to 57.7 percent in the second half. The Hokie defense harassed Richmond into a 35.9 shooting percentage for the game. Starling continued her strong shooting night by dumping in 15 second half points giving her a team leading 22 points in the win. She also has a career-high 10 rebounds to complete her first career double-double. Hicks was a constant on the hardwood, scoring 14 second half points to give her a total 21, which ties her career-high for points scored in a single game.

Nicole Jones and Emily Lipton also played well for the Tech. Jones recorded her third career double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Lipton finished the game with a team high seven assists and 10 points. Lipton also had a strong performance from the foul line hitting 8-11.

Richmond (0-1) finished the game with four out of its five starters scoring in double figures. Shooting guard Amber Goppert led the team with 14 points and forward Krystn Gull was second with 11. The tandem of point guard Michele Koclanes and forward Cammy Desmond each scored 10 points in the losing effort.

The win improves Hokie head coach Bonnie Henrikson's home record against Virginia schools to 11-0. Her overall record against instate opponents improves to 17-3. The Hokies will be back in action Monday when they host No.18 Old Dominion at 7 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum.