Collegiate Times

The Women's Basketball team beat the Trojans Thursday night.

In their first exhibition game of the season, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team took advantage of 25 turnovers to beat the Anderson Trojans 72-52 Thursday night in Cassell Coliseum.

After months of practice and preparation, head coach Beth Dunkenberger and her Hokies were glad to finally get into their first game action of the new season.

"It was nice to go up against somebody other than ourselves," Dunkenberger said. "We had some nervous jitters going on there too, but we got those out of the way and we'll be ready to go again."

Anderson, a Division II program, kept things close in the early going. However, Tech pulled away to a 36-23 lead going into the halftime intermission.

Two early second half three pointers by guard Laura Haskins set the tone for the remainder of the game.

The Hokies made seven of their ten attempts from long range over the final twenty minutes of play.

A trey from center Eleanor Brentnall sparked an 11-0 run that put the Hokies up by 22.

Tech's scoring efforts were led by Andrea Barbour. The freshman from Charlottesville recorded 20 points and had four steals on the evening. Haskins shot 6-of-12 from the field and scored 15 points.

The Hokies also dominated the Trojans on the glass, with 51 rebounds. Tech also controlled the fast break scoring 16 points in transition.

Much like the Trojans, the Hokies also had trouble holding on to the ball; the ladies in orange committed 21 turnovers on the game.

"I thought we made some mental mistakes that you make after about two weeks of practice, but I liked our effort," Dunkenberger said. "As long as we've got good energy, we'll learn from our mistakes and get better from this point on."

The Hokies will conclude their exhibition slate when they host Athletes in Action on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. inside Cassell Coliseum. Tech's season opener will also come at Cassell Coliseum against High Point on Nov. 11.