November 25, 2001

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Virginia Tech women's basketball team dropped a heart-breaking 66-65 decision to No. 19 Louisiana State in the championship game of the www.womenscollegehoops.com Crawfish Classic hosted by LSU. Sarah Hicks led Tech with a career-high 28 points.

The Hokies (3-1) took a 61-54 lead with seven minutes remaining on a Hicks' basket but the Lady Tigers outscored Tech 12-4 the rest of the way for the win. LSU took a 64-63 lead on a layup by Doneeka Hodges with 1:12 left in the game. Tech failed to convert on its next possession and Scholanda Dorrell hit a layup with :27 remaining to increase the lead to 66-63. Nicole Jones hit a short jumper to cut the lead to one before Chrystal Starling was forced to foul Kisha James with three seconds left in the game. James missed the free throw but Emily Lipton's desparation three-point attempt fell short to give the Lady Tigers the victory.

Hicks (Sr., Roanoke, Va.) was named to the All-tournament team along with junior Chrystal Starling (Syracuse, N.Y.). Sophomore Ieva Kublina (Riga, Latvia) had her third career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Senior Nicole Jones (Vienna, Va.) added 10 points and eight rebounds while Hicks handed out six assists and pulled down six rebounds in addition to her 28-point effort.

Louisiana State (3-0) was led by Hodges with 21 points followed by Dorrell's 16 points and Aiyah Smith with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Tech led 34-31 at halftime thanks to Hicks' 20 points, including four treys, as the Hokies shot 51.9 percent.

Virginia Tech continues the seven-game road swing on Thursday, Nov. 29 in Charlottesville, Va. against arch-rival Virginia at 7:30 p.m.