Rockets misfire, fall hard in Virginia

11/23/2005

RICHMOND, Va. - LaKea Jones had a career-high 17 points to lead Virginia Commonwealth to a 71-50 victory last night over Toledo, which shot just 30.2 percent from the field.

Olivia Terry was the high scorer for the Rockets (1-1), coming off the bench for nine points. She also had four assists and a steal.

UT's starters were limited to a combined 15 points on 7-of-36 shooting from the floor, including 0-of-9 from 3-point range.

Amanda Davis and Danielle Bishop added six points apiece for Toledo.

The home team jumped out of the gates quickly and held a 9-0 lead. Jones fueled the quick start and scored the game's first five points.

Meanwhile, Toledo had trouble finding its range and missed its first eight shots. The Rockets were held off the scoreboard until sophomore Kristi Zeller converted an offensive putback with 15:33 left in the first half.

Virginia Commonwealth kept up the pressure and increased its lead to 24-14 with

6:22 left. Toledo responded with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 24-21, highlighted by a three-point play by Savannah Werner.

The three-point deficit was the closest the Rockets would get, as VCU ended the opening half with a 12-2 run to make the score 36-23 at the intermission.

A VCU layup by Krystal Vaughn pushed the Rams' advantage to 46-27 with 16:07 left. UT did not get closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

Brittany Pinkney added 12 points for the Rams (2-0) while Miranda Smith and Vera Chistova contributed 10 apiece.

Virginia Commonwealth made 41.9 percent of its shots (26-of-62), while Toledo made just 19 of 63, including just 3 of 20 from 3-point range.

Toledo sank nine of 15 free throw tries (60 percent). Virginia Commonwealth connected on 15 of 19 (78.9 percent).

Zeller pulled down six rebounds for the Rockets, who were outrebounded 49-37. Quanitra Hollingsworth had 13 for the Rams.

Toledo returns to action at

7 p.m. Sunday in a nonconference game at Michigan.