December 14, 2002

Boxscore

Virginia Tech 53, Liberty 50

 

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Virgina Tech used clutch free throw shooting for the second consecutive game to pick up a hard-fought 53-50 over Liberty Saturday afternoon at the Vines Center. The win was the fifth straight for the Hokies and second consecutive road victory.

Tech (6-1) connected on 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the final minute to secure the win. The Hokies were 5-of-6 down the stretch in Wednesday's night's 60-57 win at Maryland. In both contests, Tech won the game at the free throw line. The Hokies shot 83.3 percent (10-12) against Liberty while the Flames struggled at the line shooting only 50.0 percent (9-18).

With the game tied at 39-39 and only 4:44 remaining, Tech put together a 7-0 run to build the advantage to 46-39 at the 1:49 mark. The Hokie uprising began with a Ieva Kublina (Jr., Riga, Latvia) jumper followed by a Carrie Mason (Fr., Seneca, Pa.) three-pointer and concluding on a Erin Gibson (So., Galax, Va.) layup.

Liberty narrowed the gap to 46-42 with :57 seconds left on a trey by Daina Stagaitiene. Fran Recchia (r-Fr., Flower Mound, Tex.) nailed two free throws for the Hokies but Liberty again cut the Tech lead to four on a jumper by Kristina Palaimaite.

With only :21 seconds left and the Flames forced to foul, Chrystal Starling (Sr., Syracuse, N.Y.) sealed the win by nailing 5-of-6 free throws to give the Hokies the victory.

Tech placed four players in double figures led by Recchia and Mason with 11 points each followed by Kublina and Gibson with 10 each. Kublina also had eight rebounds and five blocks and moved into second place on the school career blocks list with 136.

Liberty (4-3) was led by Katie Feenstra with 14 points and seven rebounds while Stagaitiene added 11 points.

The Hokies conclude the three-game road swing on Sat., Dec. 21 with a 2 p.m. contest at Old Dominion.