Collegiate Times

The Virginia Tech women's basketball team won their season opener against High Point on Sunday afternoon by the score of 103-64.

Redshirt junior Brittany Cook, the most experienced player on the team, matched her career-high, contributing 23 points - also the high on the team. She was perfect from the field in the first half, shooting five for five and missed only one shot during the entire contest.

"It was a lot of fun," said Cook. "We wanted to set the tone and keep it going throughout the game."

Freshman Andrea Barbour led all scorers in the first half with twelve points. Playing in her first collegiate regular season game, she went on to score 18 total points, tally two assists, and grab four rebounds.   

"It was good," said Barbour of her first game. "I was kind of excited and nervous at the same time."

The Hokies displayed their speed against their opponent out of the Big South conference, scoring 30 of their points on fast breaks. Utahya Drye, a 6'1" sophomore forward, escaped her defenders time and time again, contributing a large portion of the breakaway scores. The performance led Drye to score a career-high 15 points.

"I think we might have been too aggressive at times," said head coach Beth Dunkenberger of her team's enthusiastic play. "But that's fine with me. I'll take kids who play too hard over ones who give no effort any day."

Tech led 53-29 at the half and continued to push further away, with the final difference of 39 points being the Hokies' largest lead of the game.  In the end, the Hokies' high percentage shooting (which included 52 percent from the field) spelled doom for the Panthers.

High Point guard Jurica Hargraves came off the bench and led her team in scoring with 14 points.

Along with the various players scoring career-highs in the win, the 103 points was the most ever scored by Tech in a season opener and tied for the fifth highest points-total in the program's history. It also marked the 12th time that the Hokies have scored over 100 points in a regular season game.

The win came three days after Dunkenberger signed a contract extension to remain at Tech through the 2010-11 season.

"This place is special," said Dunkenberger. "I believe this program can play on the championship level."

The Hokies will return to action on Wednesday at Cassell Coliseum when they host Winston-Salem State of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Tip-off is slated for 7 pm.