January 25, 2007

Box Score

Virginia Tech 78, Miami 71

 

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Starting point guard Laura Haskins left Thursday night's ACC showdown with Miami due to a stomach illness, but three other Hokies scored at least 17 points to ensure that the rest of the team and Tech's fans wouldn't be leaving with a similar sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs. The Hokies held on for a 78-71 victory over Miami in front of 3,613 fans to improve to 14-8 overall and 4-3 in the ACC. Miami fell to 10-11 and 1-5 with the loss.

Haskins, hampered with a stomach flu, battled through the first half and hit the 3-pointer that put the Hokies ahead for good, but had to leave the game at halftime. In her place, freshman Lakeisha Logan stepped in and provided what head coach Beth Dunkenberger called "the one bright spot" in Tech's win.

"Undoubtedly, one of our worst defensive efforts of the year," Dunkenberger said of her team's play. "I know we were playing without Laura Haskins and she's a defensive leader for us, but as evidenced by their (Miami's) shooting percentage from the 3-point line and their 21 offensive rebounds, our defensive intensity wasn't there. We talked about holding them to 50 and they scored 71.

"For me that's frustrating, because our defense won our game for us at Virginia. Our defense led us to a decisive victory at Wake Forest. And we've got to understand that night in and night out we have got to be ready defensively."

Miami's 5-foot-2 point guard, Renee Taylor, helped the Hurricanes to a 7-4 lead in the early goings by scoring Miami's first three points of the game. Taylor leads the ACC in scoring at better than 19 points per game, but those three points were the only ones she would score in the first half. She missed three free throws, had three shots blocked, and picked up her second foul at the 9:33 mark, which forced her to the bench for much of the remainder of the half.

Taylor's second foul came soon after an offensive rebound and stickback by teammate Charmaine Clark, which made the score15-13 in favor of the Hokies. However, Clark's basket would mark the beginning of a lengthy Miami drought in which the Hokies would outscore the visitors 18-3 to claim a 33-16 advantage, their largest of the game. Britney Anderson did most of the damage, scoring eight unanswered by herself in the run, though she was aided by some gorgeous assists from teammate Kirby Copeland.

The Hurricanes were just 1-of-11 in that run and went almost six minutes between baskets, but finally righted themselves and hit four straight shots in a 9-0 run that cut Tech's lead to 33-25. Each team would add another bucket to make the halftime score 35-27.

Miami carried that momentum over to the second half when Taylor and Maurita Reid each drilled two 3-pointers in the first six minutes to bring Miami all the way back and tie the score at 45-45 with 13:39 remaining in the game. However, a stalemate was as close as Miami would get, though the Hurricanes never really went away. Brittany Cook hit a quick layup in transition, freshman Utahya Drye connected on a baseline jumper, and Nare Diawara converted two free throws to put the Hokies back up by six points.

The Hokies built the lead back to as many as nine points, 66-57, with 5:52 remaining in the game, only to see the Hurricanes again stage a furious comeback. Miami twice cut the deficit to two points, 68-66 and 70-68.

But the Hokies always had an answer. Another perfect pass from Copeland resulted in a Diawara layup, and two Diawara free throws put the Hokies back up 74-68. A 3-pointer by Reid, her fifth of the night, cut the lead to 74-71 with 1:04 to play. However, Cook again got free for a transition layup and Taylor missed a shot on the other end which was rebounded by Anderson. Reid committed her fifth foul with 30 seconds remaining, which disqualified her and her 28 points. From there, Copeland and Anderson both hit a free throw down the stretch to close out the scoring on another ACC win for the Hokies.

Logan, the freshman point guard from Scarboro, W.Va., who had not even made a field goal entering the game, was pressed into some emergency duty in Haskins' place and played well in eight minutes of action. She hit the first field goal of her career in a critical situation, putting Tech ahead 70-66 with a 15-foot jumper from the elbow. She also corralled a key rebound off a Reid miss a few seconds later to ensure Miami would not get a second chance on that late possession.

"That was the one bright spot of the day," Dunkenberger said of Logan. "Lakeisha came out there, she looked poised, she held on to the ball, she directed us on offense, and when we needed a big shot, she stepped up and hit it. She's got a great touch and I was very pleased.

"We've all seen that in practice on a pretty consistent basis, and she stepped up tonight and proved that she should get some more minutes.

And Haskins figures to be back for Tech's next game.

"It's typically a 24-hour stomach bug, so she probably needs another day just to completely relax and rehydrate and get some food in her for her strength," Dunkenberger said of Haskins. "Hopefully, with a couple days of rest here, she'll be okay."

Diawara continued her hot play with 20 points, while Cook added 18 and Anderson poured in 17. Copeland scored eight points but showed good poise directing traffic and distributing the basketball. She had several highlight reel-type assists in handing out a career high nine helpers. The Hokies continued their recent hot-shooting at the free-throw line, as well, knocking down 21 of 26 attempts, an 80.8 percent clip. In their past three games, the Hokies are 54-of-65 from the stripe.

Reid had the hot hand for Miami, filling it up to the tune of 28 points. Taylor also got untracked in the second half, scoring 17 in the game. As a team, Miami drilled 8-of-19 3-pointers.

The Hokies travel to No. 1-ranked Duke on Monday, Jan. 29. That game will tip off at 7 p.m.