Orangewomen Open BIG EAST Play at Virginia Tech
1/4/2003 4:32:05 PM | Women's Basketball
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Syracuse women's basketball team will play its first conference game of the season, taking on the Virginia Tech Hokies at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 4. The Orangewomen are 5-6, while the Hokies are 9-2.
Syracuse has won five of its last seven games. Junior guard Julie McBride led SU with 23 points in its last game, a 76-47 win versus Cornell. McBride also dished out six assists to pull into an eighth-place tie on the Syracuse all-time ledger (356).
Sophomore Rochelle Coleman scored 14 points versus the Big Red, her career-best fifth straight double-digit game. Coleman is averaging 19.3 points per game in the last four, including the first two 20-point games of her career.
SU head coach Marianna Freeman is one win away from the 100th victory of her Syracuse career.
Virginia Tech has won its last three games. The Hokies defeated Radford, 78-56, last time out. They are 6-0 at home this season and have won 21 of their last 23 at home. Junior center Ieva Kublina leads the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game. She is also the leading rebounder with 7.2 rebounds per contest. Syracuse native Chrystal Starling is questionable for the game with a bad hamstring.
The all-time series between the teams is tied at 2-2. The Orangewomen and Hokies split a pair of games last season, each team winning on its home floor.
The Orangewomen are 8-12 all-time in BIG EAST openers. They won last season's conference debut, 59-56 at Seton Hall.
