Tuscaloosa, AL -- Virginia Tech women's basketball team broke Alabama's 53-game home non-conference winning streak with fierce second half defense and superior free throw shooting, winning 68-51.
Trailing 32-29 at half time, and tied 36-all with 16 minutes to go, the Hokies blew up on the Tide, outscoring them 32-15 the rest of the way and running away with a big win. The Hokies outrebounded the Tide 19-11 in the second half and outshot them 52% (13-of-25) to 26.3% (5-of-19).
For the game, the Hokies also hit 23-of-29 free throws (79.3%) to 17-of-32 (53.1%) for Alabama.
The Hokies were led by Erin Gibson (13 points, 12 rebounds), Ieva Kublina (13 points, 6 rebounds), and Dawn Chriss (13 points). Virginia Tech is now 6-0, the second-best start in school history, second only to the 1998-99 squad, which started out 18-0.
VT's next game is Saturday, Dec. 13th, against Maryland in Cassell Coliseum. Game time is 2 p.m., and the game is part of a women's/men's doubleheader, with the Hokie men playing Radford at 7 p.m.
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Virginia Tech 68, Alabama 51
12/07/03, Tuscaloosa, AL
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
#23 Virginia Tech............. 29 39 - 68
Alabama....................... 32 19 - 51
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Virginia Tech 6-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
40 Gardin, Kerri....... f 1-5 0-0 2-4 1 0 1 4 4 0 1 0 0 15
54 GIBSON, Erin........ f 4-7 0-0 5-6 5 7 12 4 13 0 7 0 0 36
14 KUBLINA, Ieva....... c 5-13 1-4 2-2 0 6 6 3 13 2 2 1 0 31
23 CHRISS, Dawn........ g 2-8 1-1 8-10 2 0 2 4 13 2 3 3 3 32
24 MASON, Carrie....... g 2-6 0-3 5-5 0 3 3 2 9 5 1 0 2 38
05 COPELAND, Kirby..... 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 3 6 0 4 1 3 25
10 RECCHIA, Fran....... 2-4 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 7
25 ANDERSON, Britney... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
42 SIMMONS, Davina..... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 1 7
45 FINNERTY, Megan..... 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 1 5 6
Totals.............. 21-51 3-9 23-29 12 26 38 22 68 9 18 5 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-26 30.8% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 41.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-15 73.3% 2nd Half: 12-14 85.7% Game: 79.3% 1
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Alabama 4-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 Freeman, Tawana..... f 1-6 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 2 3 0 3 1 0 20
33 Hill, Lauren........ f 4-7 1-1 1-1 1 2 3 3 10 0 5 0 0 17
55 Hamilton, Tamisha... c 0-3 0-0 0-2 2 1 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 12
15 Redus, Manisha...... g 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 1 1 4 3 1 3 0 1 22
25 Sipe, Katie......... g 0-5 0-3 0-0 1 4 5 1 0 1 1 0 1 13
10 Drury, Leah......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
21 Mastin, Kate........ 2-4 0-0 3-6 1 0 1 2 7 2 2 0 0 17
23 Taylor, Oreal....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
24 Bivins, Monique..... 3-10 0-3 6-9 3 4 7 2 12 0 3 0 1 27
32 Gamble, Natasha..... 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 4 2 1 3 0 1 23
34 Moore, Navonda...... 3-8 1-1 5-8 1 2 3 3 12 0 2 0 1 21
52 Merriweather, Dee... 1-3 0-0 0-1 4 2 6 2 2 0 0 2 0 26
TEAM................ 3 3 6
Totals.............. 16-52 2-8 17-32 18 23 41 25 51 5 22 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-33 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-19 26.3% Game: 30.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 8-20 40.0% Game: 53.1% 7
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Officials: John Morningstar, Art Bomengen, Terri Maddock
Technical fouls: #23 Virginia Tech-None. Alabama-None.
Attendance: 1250