Connecticut 68, Virginia Tech 50
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 1/27/04
Blacksburg, VA -- Call it "The Night the Lights Went Out in Cassell." A 25-minute delay caused by a power outage in Cassell Coliseum did nothing to slow down the third ranked Connecticut Huskies, who bolted to a 26-8 lead and held the Hokies at bay throughout the second half for the win. VT was led by Ieva Kublina with 19 points, and UConn was led by Barbara Turner with 15.
The Huskies (15-2, 6-1 Big East) jumped on the Hokies (15-4, 4-4) right off the bat, forcing turnovers in Tech's first three possessions and storming to an 11-2 lead. Then, with 14:34 to go in the half, the Cassell Coliseum lights flickered and went out as Tech's Dawn Chriss shot a pullup jumper in the lane. Power was restored quickly, but it took Cassell's sodium lights about 20 minutes to cool down and turn back on.
The two teams warmed up and got back at it, but the delay did Tech no good. UConn ran their lead to 16-2 and then 26-8, with 9:09 to go in the half. At that point, Tech had six turnovers and was just 4-for-16 from the field.
The Hokies woke up and put a quick 7-0 run on UConn to close it to 26-15, but UConn responded with a three-pointer by Maria Conlon and pushed the lead to 36-18 at the break. At half time, the Hokies were shooting 8-of-30 (26.7%) from the field, compared to a tidy 14-of-24 (58.3%) for Connecticut.
The second half started out better for Tech, with the Hokies going on a 12-5 run to close the gap to 41-30 with 14:03 to go. The run was led by five points from Carrie Mason, who had 11 second half points and 15 for the game.
UConn added a free throw to push the lead to 42-30, then drove the dagger through Tech's heart by hitting three straight three-pointers in less than two minutes to make it 51-32 with 9:22 to go, putting the game out of reach. Tech trimmed it to 13 points at 51-38 but then succumbed to UConn down the stretch.
Kublina (19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Mason (15 points on 4-of-11 shooting and 0 turnovers in 38 minutes) shot a combined 11-of-25, but the rest of the Hokie starters -- Kerri Gardin, Dawn Chriss, and Erin Gibson -- were a miserable 4-of-23 (17.4%).
The Hokies will go on the road to face Syracuse (6-11, 3-4) on Saturday at noon. The Hokies defeated Syracuse 73-63 in Blacksburg last year.
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CONNECTICUT (15-2, 6-1)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
B Turner 30 7-13 1-2 0-2 1 3 15
J Moore 36 2-4 0-0 3-12 3 3 4
D Taurasi 35 4-10 3-4 3-5 4 2 13
M Conlon 35 4-6 0-0 0-2 1 1 11
A Strother 27 3-9 0-0 0-3 2 3 8
A Valley 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
S Marron 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M Valley 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
A Battle 21 5-6 2-2 2-4 0 0 13
W Crockett 13 1-4 2-4 2-4 0 4 4
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TOTALS 200 26-53 8-12 10-32 13 17 68
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Percentages: FG-.491, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
8-16, .500 (D Taurasi 2-6, M Conlon 3-4, A
Strother 2-5, A Battle 1-1). Team Rebounds:
3. Blocked Shots: 6 (A Strother 3, A Battle,
J Moore, D Taurasi). Turnovers: 15 (B Turner
6, D Taurasi 3, W Crockett 2, A Valley, A
Strother, A Battle, J Moore). Steals: 2 (A
Battle, D Taurasi).
VIRGINIA TECH (15-4, 4-4)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
I Kublina 37 7-14 4-7 2-5 0 3 19
K Gardin 24 1-12 0-0 3-4 4 4 2
E Gibson 35 1-3 0-0 1-7 0 1 2
D Chriss 32 2-8 1-3 1-5 0 4 5
C Mason 38 4-11 7-8 0-0 2 0 15
K Copeland 6 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
F Recchia 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
B Anderson 17 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
D Simmons 2 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 3
M Finnerty 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
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TOTALS 200 18-54 13-19 7-23 7 14 50
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Percentages: FG-.333, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals:
1-5, .200 (I Kublina 1-3, K Gardin 0-1, C
Mason 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots:
5 (I Kublina 3, E Gibson 2). Turnovers: 12 (D
Chriss 5, K Gardin 4, E Gibson 2, I Kublina).
Steals: 5 (I Kublina 2, C Mason 2, K Gardin).
Technical fouls: None. A: 7,211. Officials: Bryan
Brunette, Kathy Lynch, Lisa Mattingly