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Women's hoops hold off UNC Greensboro in opener
Friday, November 14, 2008; 9:22 PM
An energetic Virginia Tech women's basketball team took to the floor for the first time this year in Cassell Coliseum, beating the Spartans of UNC Greensboro 59-53 on Friday night.

The Hokies entered the game leading the series 6-1 with the hopes to tack on another win to their record against the Spartans.

And thanks to the late shooting of junior guard Lindsay Biggs, the Hokies extended their advantage.  Biggs scored six points over the final 1:47 to preserve the victory.

The Hokies scored 10 unanswered points in the opening minutes to build a large lead along with stifling play on the other end of the floor.

"I thought we jumped out with an intensity on the defensive end," said head coach Beth Dunkenberger.

Junior guard Lakeiska Logan led the team with 10 points after the first half.  Junior forward Utahya Drye trailed Logan with nine points and shooting 50 percent from the field.

At the close of the first half, the Hokies were comfortably leading the Spartans by a score of 37-18.  As a team, the Hokies shot 37.5 percent from the field and were perfect from the free throw line (3-3).

As for UNC Greensboro, redshirt junior guard Amanda Leigh led the team at the half with eight points.  The Spartans as a whole shot 28 percent from the field and 57 percent at the foul line.

The Spartans quickly closed the lead at the beginning of the second half to 37-26 with 7 unanswered points before a Hokie timeout.

UNC Greensboro was able to close within three points during the closing minutes of the game while fans held their breath as flash backs surfaced from last season.

"It'd always be my preference to have blow outs but you know that's not going to happen every game," said junior guard Laura Haskins.

"It was good to see us hang on to the lead because that was something that we weren't able to do last year," Haskins said.  "A lot of times in the second half, you would see teams coming back into the game and then we would kind of let it go, so it was good to see us hang on to it."

Drye lead her teammates with 15 total points followed by Biggs with 14, and Logan with 12.

During the second half Virginia Tech shot 26.7 percent from the field, zero percent beyond the arch, and 75 percent from the line.

"I would have liked to have two first halves," Dunkenberger said. "It's a group that doesn't have a whole lot of experience and they'll get better as they go."

Rounding out the game the Hokies shot a total of 32.9 percent in field goals in comparison to the Spartans at 33.3 percent.

Lakiah Hyson and Amanda Leigh both led the Spartans in total points with 11 each.

Despite the loss of their star guard Brittany Cook, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, Tech as able to beat UNC Greensboro to start the season on the winning end.

"Cook is a great player and leading scorer," Drye said.  "Yeah, she'll be missed but definitely other players have to step up."

"We all bring something to the table; we just have to bring that role every game."

Definitely one individual to step up was Logan. After the first half of play Logan beat her previous career high of five points, finishing the game with 12.

"It's always exciting to come out and get into a rhythm and just feed off your teammates," Logan said.

The Hokies will try to push to go 2-0 on Tuesday when they host the Radford Highlanders at Cassell Coliseum.  The game will tip off at 7 p.m. 

You might be interested in... Related Topics: women's basketball, unc greensboro, acc, lindsay biggs
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