Virginia Tech 52, Liberty 45
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 1/2/04
Blacksburg, VA -- The Virginia Tech women found the going against Liberty to be pretty tough, but they prevailed anyway, scoring 14 of the game's last 18 points to put the Flames away. The Hokies were led in scoring and rebounding by sophomore guard Dawn Chriss, who posted 15 points and 12 rebounds, both game-high figures.
Down 41-38 with just under seven minutes to go, the Hokies (11-0) tied it up when Ieva Kublina found Carrie Mason open outside the three-point line, and Mason canned the jumper to tie it with 6:58 remaining. That shot started a 9-0 Hokie run that put Tech up 47-41 with 1:06 to go, putting the game out of reach of the Flames.
Mason's shot was a rare bright spot for a Hokie team that shot a miserable 29.4% (15-of-51) from the field, including just 3-of-13 (23.1%) from three-point range. Fortunately for Tech, Liberty (6-6) didn't fare much better, going 18-of-51 (35.3%) from the field overall and 2-of-10 from three-point range. The Hokies outscored Liberty 19-7 from the free throw line, and that proved to be the difference in this tightly-contested game.
With the score tied at 15 late in the first half, it looked like the Hokies might run away with it when they went on a quick 10-0 run over a three-minute stretch to go up 25-15. Liberty recovered and closed it to 27-20 at the half, then continued to creep closer throughout the second half, getting to within 36-32 with 12:33 remaining.
Then the Hokies went flat, and Liberty, using a zone defense that befuddled Tech for much of the second half, put on a run of their own, outscoring Tech 9-2 over a five-minute-plus stretch to take their 41-38 lead. Mason's shot snapped Tech out of it, and the Hokies were able to hit a few free throws and hold Liberty off down the stretch.
Tech was challenged all game long by Liberty's towering center, 6-8 junior Katie Feenstra, who shot 6-of-8 from the field, scored 13 points, and blocked 7 Hokie shots before fouling out with 1:06 to go. With Feenstra patrolling the middle, Tech's perimeter players struggled to score on penetration. 6-4 Ieva Kublina scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds, but shot just 4-of-14 from the field, and 6-2 Erin Gibson scored just 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting and had just 3 rebounds in 33 minutes.
Kublina blocked 3 shots, making her the all-time leader in career blocked shots at VT, with 207. She led Tech with 3 assists, and Mason added 10 points. The Hokies tip off the Big East portion of their schedule at home against 4-7 Providence Sunday at 2 p.m.
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Virginia Tech 52, Liberty 45
1/2/04, Blacksburg, VA
1st 2nd Tot
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LIBERTY 20 25 - 45
VIRGINIA TECH 27 25 - 52
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LIBERTY (45)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
K Tharp 27 0-6 0-0 1-3 3 4 0
K Palaimaite 26 3-7 4-4 3-5 1 4 10
K Feenstra 36 6-8 1-5 2-10 0 5 13
M Leonard 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
D Stagaitene 35 2-7 2-2 2-4 2 2 7
A Dawson 13 4-8 0-2 2-3 1 2 8
M Parker 22 0-2 0-0 1-2 4 3 0
S Walker 16 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 2
R Margeviciute 15 2-7 0-0 0-1 0 0 5
C Peace 2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 18-51 7-15 11-28 11 21 45
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Percentages: FG-.353, FT-.467. 3-Point Goals:
2-10, .200 (K Tharp 0-2, D Stagaitene 1-1, M
Parker 0-1, R Margeviciute 1-6). Team
Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 9 (K Feenstra 7,
K Palaimaite 2). Turnovers: 19 (K Feenstra 5,
D Stagaitene 5, M Parker 3, K Palaimaite 3, M
Leonard 2, S Walker). Steals: 4 (S Walker, C
Peace, K Feenstra, K Tharp).
VIRGINIA TECH (52)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
K Gardin 32 1-4 4-6 0-4 2 1 6
E Gibson 33 3-6 2-4 2-3 0 4 8
I Kublina 38 4-14 4-5 4-10 3 2 13
D Chriss 34 5-11 5-5 5-12 1 1 15
C Mason 35 2-10 4-6 0-1 2 2 10
K Copeland 11 0-5 0-0 2-5 1 1 0
F Recchia 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
B Anderson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M Finnerty 9 0-0 0-2 0-1 0 2 0
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TOTALS 200 15-51 19-28 13-36 9 13 52
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Percentages: FG-.294, FT-.679. 3-Point Goals:
3-13, .231 (I Kublina 1-5, C Mason 2-7, F
Recchia 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked
Shots: 6 (I Kublina 3, C Mason, D Chriss, E
Gibson). Turnovers: 16 (K Gardin 4, I Kublina
4, E Gibson 3, C Mason 2, K Copeland, M
Finnerty, D Chriss). Steals: 9 (C Mason 3, K
Gardin 3, I Kublina 3).
Technical fouls: None. A: 2,542. Officials: John
Jones, Nan Sisk, Tom Danaher