BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech women's basketball team is gearing up for their next competition, the Coqui Classic in San Juan, Puerto Rico set to take place on Friday, December 20 as well as Saturday, December 21. Awaiting them there will be the Rice Owls of Conference USA and the Wichita State Shockers who compete in the American Athletic Conference.
It will be the program's second appearance on the island, with the first coming back in 1994 at the San Juan Shootout. In that competition, the Hokies won their first two game vs. Michigan State and Oklahoma State before falling to Texas Tech on the final day.
GAME INFORMATION
Virginia Tech vs. Rice
Friday, December 20 – 1:30 p.m.
GAME INFORMATION
Virginia Tech vs. Wichita State
Saturday, December 21 – 11 a.m.
The team will head to the island having had 12 days between contests, pausing to complete finals, rest, and travel for the Classic.
In their last game, the Hokies defeated Gardner-Webb 87-65 behind four players in double figures. Dara Mabrey led the team with 22 points and four made 3-pointers, followed by freshman Elizabeth Kitley's 18, Trinity Baptiste's 17 and Aisha Sheppard's 14 points.
For Baptiste, who registered a career best 17 rebounds in the contest as well, it signaled her second consecutive game with a double-double. Kitley also recorded one, the first of her career, will 11 rebounds.
THE OWLS
Rice enters the matchup 5-4 on the season, most recently defeating Prairie View A&M on December 15 77-55. Senior guard Erica Ogwumike led the team with 25 points and 14 rebounds and the team outrebounded their opposition by 20.
Ogwumike, the team's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, was the C-USA preseason Player of the Year and is also on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List, which honors the top shooting guard in the nation and she is on the Naismith Trophy Watch List as well as the Wooden Award Top 30.
As a team, the Owls were picked to repeat as champions of C-USA and in addition to Ogwumike, Rice features a 6-foot-9 center Nancy Mulkey who is on the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List. On the season Mulkey averages 10.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and close to three blocks per contest.
The Hokies and Owls have never met on the hardwood before.
THE SHOCKERS
Wichita State is 6-4 after defeating Arkansas Pine Bluff 100-50 on Monday night. Eleven different players scored a basket in the game and the Shockers dominated, with a plus-24 margin in points off turnovers, plus-24 in the paint and plus-25 in fast break situations. Guards Mariah McCully and Ashley Reid each scored 17 points to the lead the team.
On the season, the Shockers are averaging 68.4 points per game led by McCully, the only consistent double figure scorer at 12.8 per contest. Wichita shoots the ball at a .410 clip from the field, but just .295 from beyond the arc.
Wichita State begins their run at the Coqui Classic against Montana State.
The game will be the first ever between the two programs.
NEXT TIME ON THE HARDWOOD
•The Hokies begin their ACC slate on Sunday, December 31 at nationally ranked Florida State at 2 p.m. on Regional Sports Networks.
•Last season, Tech led the matchup by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, before FSU came back to take their first lead of the game at the 22 second mark and ultimately won the game 56-54.
•The Seminoles own an advantage in the series 28-10 and have won each of the last seven meetings. Tech last defeated FSU in 2013, earning a 71-52 victory over the nineteenth-ranked Seminoles at home.
NEXT TIME ON CARILION CLINIC COURT
•Tech will return to Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum on Sunday, January 5 to take on North Carolina on ACC Network Extra. Tipoff for that contest is set for 2 p.m.
•The Hokies are 6-19 all-time against the Tar Heels and fell 81-69 at home in last season's only meeting. This season, the programs will play a home-and-home as they are grouped together in the new ACC 'pod' format with 18 league games.
