BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech women's basketball team returned to Carilion Clinic Court Tuesday for the season opener against USC Upstate from the Big South Conference. The Hokies, who started freshman Dara Mabrey at the point guard position went on to a comfortable 51-point victory, marking the program's 400that Cassell Coliseum.
Mabrey, from Belmar, New Jersey turned in a fine debut, scoring 18 points in 24 minutes of work, also providing five assists.
Starting off with a dub 😏pic.twitter.com/Ynar9fPfZd
— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) November 7, 2018
"It's a good start, but more importantly just a start to our season," commented Head Coach Kenny Brooks. "You play a game like this, you have no idea what to expect, they have pretty much a different roster than they had last year. They play a zone so we could never really get into a rhythm and we struggled shooting the basketball early, but we really got it going in the second half."
The second quarter featured two scoring runs, one by each club. The Spartans scored the first seven points of the period after Denisha Swain's 3-pointer cut Tech's advantage to a single point. But the Hokies' defense stepped up for the remainder of the quarter and the offense found a bit of a rhythm scoring the last 16 points, including consecutive layups by Aisha Sheppard and a pair or 3-point field goals from Mabrey.
Tech took a 36-19 advantage into the halftime locker room.
The second half belonged to the Hokies, who put up 60 points, thanks in part to the long ball connecting. Whereas the Hokies shot 4 for 20 from downtown in the first 20 minutes, the squad fired at an impressive 9 of 15 clip in the second half.
Emery and Mabrey each connected four times from deep, Sheppard added three and Kendyl Brooks, who had a solid stat line; six points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals had two.
Briana Lewis led Upstate (0-1) with 17 points in the contest.
All the best looks from tonight's 96-45 win via @HokieVision here 🎥🔥🍿😀pic.twitter.com/NcyVmXMN0d
— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) November 7, 2018
(11/6/2018) 2018-2019 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL OPENER
Quoting Coach Brooks
On Dara Mabrey: "She shoots the ball well, which will help stretch the defense and then kind of picking your poison, if you want to play a zone she has unlimited range and can really shoot it. She's a tireless worker and I'm very happy for her to have this kind of start."
On Trinity Baptiste: "We brought her off the bench to provide a spark and she understood that. I thought she was a little bit rusty, maybe a little slow reacting to plays, but nonetheless she had a double-double and that's what she's capable of and I just think it's a matter of time and getting her comfortable. You really weren't able to see what she can do because they played a zone the whole time. They collapsed around her a lot, she didn't have a lot of room to work with so when people start playing us man to man, we'll put her in positions where she can be extremely successful."
Other key notes:
• The 60 second half points were the most scored by a Kenny Brooks coached team in Blacksburg
• Regan Magarity was honored in a pregame ceremony for setting the program record for career rebounds in the final game of the 2017-18 season. She entered the season with 864, owning the two best single season marks as well (357 in 2017-18 and 316 in 2016-17)
• Magarity turned in a classic double-double performance, with 12 points and 15 rebounds, recording her 33rdof her career.
• Forward Trinity Baptiste also made her Virginia Tech debut, registering a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The sophomore from Tampa, Florida logged 25 minutes and was 4 of 8 from the field.
• Tech took advantage of 21 Spartan turnovers to the tune of 24 points off. The Hokies also had the advantage in the paint (38-14), on the fast break (13-1) and in second chance opportunities (22-0).
Next Up: The Hokies are back on Carilion Clinic Court on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. to take on the Georgia Southern Eagles.