Hokies surpass Wofford

By Edward Lupien The Collegiate Times

November 28, 2007

Blacksburg, VA (CSTV U-WIRE) -- The Virginia Tech women's basketball team defeated the Wofford Terriers of the Southern Conference yesterday night at Cassell Coliseum by the final score of 75-60.With the win the Hokies improve to 5-1.

Brittany Cook led all Tech scorers for the fourth time this season with 19 points.

Freshman guard Andrea Barbour also contributed 18 points and was perfect from the line, hitting all four free throws she attempted. Tech was 85.2 percent as team from the line.

Despite the 15 point win, head coach Beth Dunkenberger was less than pleased with her team's effort.

"I saw a complete lack of leadership from our upperclassmen," said Dunkenberger. "We're definitely going to go hard in practice."

The game was Tech's first since coming back from a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in the Bahamas in which they went 1-1.

"I'm not going to use that as an excuse," Cook said when asked if the tournament had anything to do with the team's low-percentage shooting. "We were just out of sync."

Due to a minor illness, junior guard Laura Haskins did not play. The junior Cook was one of the few experienced players who saw action for the Hokies. She led the team in minutes with 33 and also took the most shots, going 7-15 on field goals.

"I take responsibility," Cook said after the performance. "I can always give more."

Tech missed all six three pointers they attempted and hit less fewer half of its attempted field goals.

With Haskins out, sophomore guard Lindsay Biggs got her first collegiate start. Biggs was 2-5 from the field and 0-3 beyond the arc. She finished the night with four points and three assists.

"I'm not going to say I played my best," said Biggs. "I tried to step up and do what I had to do."

Wofford led the Hokies by as many as six points in the first half, but Tech managed to regain the lead on a technical foul by Terrier guard Natalie Gramblin.

The foul created the opportunity the Hokies need to pull ahead with Cook and sophomore forward Utahya Drye both hitting foul shots. The Hokies ended up taking a 34-25 lead heading into halftime.

Neither team shot better than 41.3% from the field with the Hokies and the Terriers both shooting under 35.5 percent in the first half.

Junior guard Laura Depko led the Terriers in points with another junior guard, Liz Miller, leading the team in steals with three.

The Terriers were ranked No. 1 in the country in steals last season and took the ball away from the Hokies on seven occasions.

The loss brings the Terriers record to 2-2 on the season. They have yet to beat a Division I team.

The Hokies will see their next action Friday night when they host the Minnesota Golden Gophers as part of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Tip-off is slated for 7 pm.