Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech was unable to escape the cellar of the ACC standings Thursday night, losing a nail-biter to the Miami Hurricanes, 59-56.

 The Hokies (11-14, 1-9 ACC) allowed a 12 point first half lead to slowly slip away with a plethora of second half defensive breakdown and lack of a consistent scorer down the stretch. 

"There were several times in the second half when we were not on the same page," said head coach Beth Dunkenberger.  "We didn't get our match ups, they got wide open looks.  And I don't understand that.  At this point in the season that doesn't make sense to me."

With five minutes to play, Miami snatched its largest lead of the game up to that point, with a Cunningham jumper, making the score 52-49.  But Miami missed a pair of open lay-up opportunities, and the Hokies were able to cut the lead to one after a Lindsay Biggs jumper. 

Cunningham then drained another clutch shot, this time a three-pointer to extend Miami's lead to six with under three minutes to play. But Harrison was fouled on Tech's next possession, and made her first free throw but missed the second.  The Hokies were able to recover the offensive rebound, and Gordon was able to put back the miss, to cut the lead to three.

With the crowd roaring, Tech was able to force a Miami miss at the defensive end, followed by a Haskins jumper to make the score 57-56 with just 40 seconds left. 

Coming out of a Miami timeout, Tech was able to force a contest shot, but Lamese James was able to grab an offensive board and make the subsequent lay up with just seconds left to give Miami a final 59-56 lead, and the win.  Tech had one more opportunity, but a Biggs contested three fell short as time expired.

Brittany Gordon netted nine for the Hokies while on her way to a career-high 13 rebounds.  Laura Haskins racked up 10 points of her own while shooting 5-of-7 from the field.

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