St. Thomas, Virgin Islands -- The Virginia Tech women used clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch and a balanced scoring attack to defeat Iowa State 67-57 in the first round of the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.
The Hokies, ranked #24 in the latest ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, placed five players in double figures, led by Erin Gibson's 14 points, and made 9-of-10 free throws in the last two minutes and thirty seconds. VT held an 11-point half time lead at 32-21, but ISU made a run to close it to 40-37 with 10:59 to go. The Hokies went on a 17-9 run to stretch the lead back out to 57-46 with 2:57 to go, and then the Hokies made their free throws to ice the win.
In addition to Gibson's 14 points, the Hokies got 12 points each from Ieva Kublina, Dawn Chriss, and Fran Recchia. Carrie Mason chipped in with 11. Kublina and Recchia led the Hokies with 8 rebounds each. The Hokies only hit 22-of-61 (36.1%) from the field, but they had a 12-shot advantage over ISU (21-of-49), thanks to a 17-12 offensive rebounding advantage. Tech also out-blocked ISU 9 to 4 and won the turnover battle, turning it over just 11 times to ISU's 15.
VT will play the winner of the Mississippi State-Indiana game Saturday night at 8:15.
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Virginia Tech 67, Iowa State 57
11/28/03 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Iowa State 1-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
45 KREINER, Lisa....... c 3-5 0-2 0-0 1 6 7 5 6 1 2 1 5 31
11 FOX, Mary........... g 2-7 0-3 0-0 2 2 4 3 4 0 5 0 0 30
12 O'NEIL, Anne........ g 2-7 0-0 9-10 1 4 5 0 13 2 2 0 2 35
24 PAUSTIAN, Tracy..... g 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 21
31 RONHOVDE, Megan..... g 2-7 1-2 0-0 1 5 6 1 5 0 1 0 0 27
14 MEDDERS, Lyndsey.... 7-13 2-5 3-4 1 2 3 3 19 5 2 0 0 30
51 WILKINS, Brittany... 5-9 0-0 0-1 3 2 5 3 10 0 2 3 0 26
TEAM................ 3 2 5 1
Totals.............. 21-49 3-13 12-15 12 24 36 16 57 8 15 4 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-25 32.0% 2nd Half: 13-24 54.2% Game: 42.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-10 20.0% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 23.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 80.0% 2
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Virginia Tech 3-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 KUBLINA, Ieva....... f 5-13 2-4 0-0 4 4 8 2 12 1 2 3 1 33
32 GARDIN, Kerri....... f 1-7 0-0 4-4 1 1 2 2 6 2 2 0 0 16
54 GIBSON, Erin........ c 6-10 0-0 2-3 3 1 4 0 14 2 2 3 0 38
23 CHRISS, Dawn........ g 3-11 0-0 6-6 0 0 0 4 12 0 0 1 3 24
24 MASON, Carrie....... g 3-7 1-1 4-6 2 3 5 1 11 4 1 2 3 39
05 COPELAND, Kirby..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5
10 RECCHIA, Fran....... 4-9 2-4 2-2 3 5 8 0 12 1 1 0 2 24
21 FOWLER, Brandy...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 4
25 ANDERSON, Britney... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 14
42 SIMMONS, Davina..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
45 FINNERTY, Megan..... 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 22-61 5-9 18-22 17 17 34 10 67 13 11 9 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-31 45.2% 2nd Half: 8-30 26.7% Game: 36.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 55.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 16-20 80.0% Game: 81.8% 2
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Officials: (R) Kathy Lynch, (U) Bruce Morris, Joann Aldrich
Technical fouls: Iowa State-None. Virginia Tech-None.
Attendance: 1266
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Iowa State.................... 21 36 - 57
Virginia Tech................. 32 35 - 67