November 25, 2008

RORIE’S CAREER HIGH LEADS RAMS PAST EAST CAROLINA, 78-67
Hollingsworth notches first double-double of the season
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – A career-high 24 points from junior La’Tavia Rorie (Chesapeake, Va.) and the first double-double of the season for senior Quanitra Hollingsworth (Chesapeake, Va.) sparked the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball team to a 78-67 win over the Pirates of East Carolina University on Tuesday evening.

“It was a great win for us,” Head Coach Beth Cunningham said. “I thought our kids really came out focused on both ends of the court. Their focus on the defensive end really helped our offense all night long.”

The win improves VCU’s record to 3-1 on the year and 20-3 in the month of November under Cunningham. She also needs just 11 career wins to become the all-time winningest coach in school history.

The loss is the first of year for East Carolina as they fall to 3-1 in 2008-2009.

For the fourth straight game, the Black and Gold came out firing as a three-pointer from senior Radoslava Bachvarova (Varna, Bulgaria) and a lay-up by classmate Hollingsworth (right) gave VCU an early 5-2 advantage.

East Carolina’s only lead of the contest came when Kim Gay drilled a shot from beyond the arc to give the Pirates a 13-12 advantage with 11:42 on the clock.

VCU responded with a 12-2 run to gain some breathing room as Hollingsworth and Rorie each chipped in four points during the spurt that gave the Rams a 24-15 lead with 5:05 remaining in the first half.

The lead remained at nine for the rest of the half until Tiahana Bowens connected on a lay-up as time expired to send the teams into the break with VCU leading 28-21.

Both squads came out of the locker rooms battling hard with aggressive play on both the offensive and defensive side of the court.

Junior D’Andra Moss (Atlanta, Ga.) knocked down four straight from the charity stripe and Rorie connected on a fast-break lay-up to give VCU a 6-0 burst that pushed the lead to 15 at 48-33 with 13:37 left in regulation.

Richmond native Jasmine Young came alive in the final 10 minutes scoring eight of her 11 points to bring the Pirates as close as three with an assist on a three-pointer from LaCoya Terry with 3:54 remaining in the game that made the score 66-63.

VCU never backed down as Hollingsworth and Rorie scored on consecutive lay-ups to push the lead to seven and East Carolina never recovered as the Black and Gold picked up its third straight win over the Pirates, 78-67.

Rorie led the way with a career-best 24 points, while Hollingsworth finished with her 38th career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Kita Waller (Atlanta, Ga.) (left) and Bachvarova were the other two Rams in double-figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“Our balance is something that is critical for us,” Cunningham said. “It’s good to see that on any given night someone has the capability to step up for us and that will hopefully cause difficulty for teams to match up against us.”

Terry was the leading scorer for East Carolina with 21 points, while Young finished with 11 points and six assists.

The Rams are back on the road Saturday afternoon as they travel north to take on the Great Danes of the University of Albany in a 2 p.m. contest.