November 29, 2002

Box Score

Virginia Tech 70, FIU 79

 

MIAMI, Fla. - Foul trouble, combined with hot shooting by the opposition, proved to be too much to overcome Friday night as the Virginia Tech women's basketball team dropped its first game of the year, 79-70, at Florida International in the first round of the Herald/FIU Thanksgiving Classic. The Hokies will face Washington State in Saturday's consolation game at 7 p.m.

Tech (1-1) trailed 6-2 only five minutes when Ieva Kublina (Jr., Riga, Latvia) went to the bench for the remainder of the half with her second personal foul. The Hokies fell behind by as many as nine points and trailed 29-22 at intermission.

The young Hokies opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take their only lead of the night 35-33 with 15:56 remaining in the game. The Golden Panthers responded with a 15-2 outburst of their own to regain control of the game at 48-37 with less than ten minutes left in the game. Tech would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as FIU connected on 18-of-23 free throws in the second half to seal the win.

Tech was led by redshirt freshman Fran Recchia (Flower Mound, Texas) for the second consecutive game. Recchia scored a career-high 19 points, all in the second half, followed by Chrystal Starling (Sr., Syracuse, N.Y.) with 15 and Carrie Mason (Fr., Seneca, Pa.) with 12.

The Golden Panthers placed six players in double figures led by Dace Cinite, a teammate of Kublina's on the Latvian National Team, with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Cormisha Cotton added 15 followed by Mandy Shafer's 11 points and Anita Heller and Ivelina Vrancheva with 10 points each.

The Hokies shot 45.5 percent (25-55) despite opening the game by making only one of its first 13 field goal attempts. Florida International (2-1) shot 50 (27-54) percent from the field and 80 percent (20-25) from the free throw line.

Following Saturday's game, Tech returns home to host the Dominion Virginia Power Classic on Tuesday against Virginia. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.