December 3, 2002

Despite a slow start, the Virginia Tech women's hoops team put together a great all-around basketball game to overcome the Virginia Cavaliers 72-56 in the Dominion Virginia Power Classic. The win, in front of 3,341 fans at Cassell Coliseum on December 3, moved the Hokies' record to 3-1 while UVa fell to 3-2.

Freshman Carrie Mason (Seneca, Pa.) won the Dominion Power player of the game award for the Hokies. Mason had a career-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. She played all 20 minutes of the second half and was also 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, many of those coming down the stretch to extend Tech's margin of victory.

"All I knew was what they'd told me about the history of it and about the in-state bragging rights," Mason said of the rivalry. "But to actually experience it, it was one of the best games that I've ever played in."

Ieva Kublina (Riga, Latvia) also had a big game, scoring a season-high 25 points and collecting 9 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 junior also had four blocks and two steals in 36 minutes. Senior Chrystal Starling (Syracuse, N.Y.) joined Mason and Kublina in double figures with 10, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Tech dominated the Cavaliers on the glass 37-21. The Hokies also shot the ball uncharacteristically well from the free throw line, going 25-for-31 (80.6 percent) for the game and 22-of-26 in the second half. Entering the game, the Hokies had been outrebounded by two on the season and were shooting just 67.2 percent from the charity stripe.

The Hokies took a 32-26 lead into the locker room at halftime behind the strength of Kublina's 17 first-half points and their 52 percent shooting effort in the frame. The Cavaliers were able to stay close by knocking down 4-of-8 3-point attempts, compared to Tech's 1-for-6 total from downtown.

UVa jumped out to a 9-0 lead early as the Hokies went 0-for-3 from the floor and missed two free-throw opportunities. With the Hokies trailing 11-4 and the Cavalier athletes taking advantage of Tech's man-to-man defense, head coach Bonnie Henrickson switched Tech into a zone. The move paid immediate dividends.

After the switch, the Cavaliers went 2-for-10 over the next 11 minutes while committing eight turnovers. Tech took that opportunity to go 10 for its next 13 and claim a 28-18 lead by virtue of the 24-7 run.

"We're not a team that plays a lot of zone, but momentum-wise we wanted to look at it early and not save it till the second-half or late game," Henrickson said. "We wanted to throw it out there early and see if we could get them to take some bad shots and keep them off the glass."

"We haven't played that much zone since we played Auburn here," Henrickson said, referring to Tech's NCAA game against the Tigers in 1999. "We probably didn't play that much zone all of last year."

The two see-sawed back and forth in the second half, but UVa was never able to get closer than three points. With a little over five minutes remaining and Tech leading 57-51, the Hokies went on a 15-2 run that sealed UVa's fate.

Marcie Dickson was UVa's Dominion Power player of the game with an 11-point, three-rebound effort.

Tech next takes to the court on Saturday, December 7 when the team welcomes the James Madison Dukes to Cassell Coliseum for a 7p.m. tipoff.