January 22, 2007

Box Score

Virginia Tech 60, Virginia 68

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Despite being down 33-21 at the break, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team used a gutsy comeback to pick up a stunning 60-58 ACC road win over the University of Virginia Monday evening at John Paul Jones Arena.

Senior Nare Diawara (Sr., Bamako, Mali) led the Hokies, on her 23^rd birthday, with 17 points, all in the second half. Diawara also pulled down 14 rebounds, marking her sixth career double-double. Kirby Copeland (Sr., Morrow, Ga.) contributed 14 points to improve the Hokies to 13-8 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. Virginia falls to 12-7 on the season and 2-3 in conference action.

The Hokies opened the second half with a 13-4 run to cut the Cavaliers' lead to three. However, Tech was unable to take control as Virginia responded with a 10-3 run of its own, increasing the Cavaliers' lead back to 12 at 47-35, with 12:45 to play.

Diawara went on to score seven of Tech's next nine points, cutting the Cavaliers' lead to five. She later converted two free throws to bring the Hokies within one, at 53-52, with 3:55 to play. From there, Paulisha Kellum's jumper at 3:37 extended the Cavalier lead to 55-52.

Britney Anderson (Sr., Blacksburg, Va.) tied the game on a jumper with 2:17 left to play, but Virginia's Monica Wright canned two free throws with just under a minute to play, giving UVa a 58-56 lead. Tech quickly responded with a Copeland lay-up, to re-tie the game with 43 seconds left. The Cavaliers advanced the ball into the front court before calling timeout with 24 seconds left in the game.

Virginia's Sharnee Zoll missed a layup with 17 seconds left and Brittany Cook (r-So., Narrows, Va.) pulled down the rebound. The Hokies called timeout at the eight second mark to set up one final play. Cook in bounded to Copeland, who missed a short jumper, but Cook, hustled to the weak side, grabbed the offensive board and put in the winning lay-up with two seconds left for the victory. The lead was the Hokies' only one of the contest.

"It was a loud game," Tech head coach Beth Dunkenberger said. "I liked that we did it with great defense. It wasn't our night offensively, but our defense proved to be the difference."

Tech's defense held Virginia to 30.8 percent from the field in the second half, while the Hokies' offense shot 40.0 percent. Tech out-rebounded the Cavaliers 39-35 for the game.

"We started the game sluggish," Dunkenberger said. "But we knew most of the problems on the court were our fault. Once we stopped turning the ball over, it gave us a chance to come back in it."

The win marks the Hokies' third win in the last four games played in Charlottesville. The game also marked the eighth contest of the Commonwealth Challenge, a points based competition between Tech and Virginia. The Hokies have scored 3.5 points in the competition, with one point coming in women's basketball, two points coming in football and a half-point in volleyball. The Cavaliers lead the competition with 4.5 points.

The Hokies return home to face Miami on Thursday, Jan. 25 in Cassell Coliseum at 7 p.m.