The game had been over for almost half an hour, but Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger was still in disbelief.
"I can't believe their point guard had more rebounds than any player on our team," Dunkenberger muttered to herself as she left the Virginia media room. "That's just ridiculous."
Dunkenberger's Hokies (12-6, 2-4 ACC) were dominated on the boards by Virginia (15-5, 4-2), as the Cavaliers grabbed 49 rebounds to Virginia Tech's 27 en route to a 70-67 victory Friday night at U-Hall.
Senior guard LaTonya Blue scored a career-high 26 points, including four in the final 41 seconds of the game, to lead the Cavaliers. She also pulled down 12 rebounds to register her first double-double of the season.
After a first half when neither team was able to establish a significant lead, Virginia Tech scored ten of the second half's first 12 points, grabbing a 49-42 lead on a Carrie Mason three-pointer with 15:39 left in the game.
Blue answered back only 30 seconds later, nailing a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to launch a 12-0 Virginia run that kept the Hokies scoreless for over seven minutes.
"We focused on just staying intense -- getting in the passing lane, shut down their players on defense and just stay focused," Blue said of the stretch midway through the second half.
The Cavaliers led by as many as six points after guard Brenna McGuire drained a pair of free throws with 1:38 remaining. Virginia Tech was able to pull within two, however, with a Mason layup followed by a steal by forward Kerri Gardin off the Virginia inbound and another layup, this time by forward Brittany Anderson.
With her team up 64-62, Blue decided to create her own shot, penetrating into the lane before stopping and sinking a mid-range bank shot with only 40 seconds left to put Virginia up by four points.
Although the Hokies were able to cut the Cavalier lead in half with 25 ticks on the clock, Blue managed to grab the rebound off a missed free throw from Virginia forward Jocelyn Logan-Friend and find Brenna McGuire, who hit both of her free throws after being fouled to put the game out of reach for Virginia Tech.
"I told her that she really needs to look for her shot all the time so she can stay in her rhythm," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said of Blue, who made nine of her 17 shots from the field. "I thought she did a great job in practice looking for her shot all week long, and our team just feeds off of her, and it really helps us. Even when she misses, we have really good rebounders."
Those rebounders were in full force Friday for the Cavaliers, as Virginia had four players, including 5-foot-7 point guard Sharnee Zoll, who had at least seven rebounds. No player on Virginia Tech was able to pull down more than six boards.
Of Virginia's 49 rebounds, 24 came on the offensive end, and the Cavaliers scored 27 second-chance points while the Hokies only managed nine.
The victory moved the Cavaliers into a tie for third place in the ACC and gave Virginia their 15th win of the season, a year after they finished the entire 2003-04 campaign with only 13 victories. Tonight, the Cavaliers will look for win number 16 when they travel to face 21st-ranked Florida State.
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