Houston to Play for WNIT Championship Following Overtime Win at Virginia Tech

Chandi Jones

Houston came back from an 11-point deficit late in the second half and marched through overtime to hand the homestanding Virginia Tech Hokies a thrilling 77-72 defeat in the semifinals of the 2002 Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) on Saturday night in Blacksburg, Virginia. 0. Houston advances to Wednesday night’s WNIT championship game at Oregon (23-11), beginning at 9:00 p.m. CST.

The finals game will mark the first time in the program's 27-year history that the Cougars have advanced to the finals in the post-season. The 1991-92 Houston team fell to Northern Illinois in the semifinals of that year's WNIT.

The Hokies struck first with four quick points to open the game and held Houston scoreless until sophomore standout Chandi Jones, who closed out the night with 32 points, sunk in a two-point jumper 2:14 into the game. Jones hit the first of three treys just 40 seconds later to give Houston its first lead of the night, then went on to score six of the Cougars' next 10 points as they built a 15-10 lead. Senior Valerie Muoneke, who finished the night with her sixth double-double performance of the season - as well as her third in the last four games - with 10 points and 13 rebounds, bucketed four straight points as the clock wound down to 10 minutes remaining in the half and put Houston on top, 19-12.

But Virginia Tech answered with a 7-0 run and tied the contest at 19-19 on a two-point jumper by Ieva Kublina, who finished the night with 32 of her own points. From that point on, the game went back and forth as each team battled and continued to answer the other basket-to-basket. With the score tied at 27 a piece with 1:30 left to the half, the Hokies' Erin Gibson put in a lay up to put Virginia Tech up by two as they carried a 29-27 lead into the locker room at half-time.

Virginia Tech came out strong to open the second half and a trey by Sarah Hicks', the Hokies' leading threat outside the arc, sparked a 7-2 drive in which they quickly built a 38-29 lead within the opening three minutes. After Jones sailed in her second trey of the night to pull the Cougars to within six (38-32), Kublina answered with five straight points and Virginia Tech was up by 11 (43-32), their largest lead of the night.

With just under 10 minutes remaining in regulation and the Hokies' ahead, 45-37, Lady Cougars began their comeback march. After freshman KiKi Harris made two free throws, fellow freshman Shondra Bush, Houston's second-leading scorer all season and of the night with 22 points, narrowed Virginia Tech's lead to just one point (46-45) with her first and second three-pointers of the night with 8:15 left.

Scraping and clawing, Houston continued to plug away, despite the Hokies' building yet another sizeable nine-point lead (54-45) on back-to-back treys by Hicks with 6:29 remaining. After Jones sailed in a jumper to pull Houston to within seven, Jones and fellow sophomore Nicole Oliver forced two straight Hokie turnovers and capitalized with six straight points by Jones as the Cougars once again pulled to within one (54-53). With 3:50 left, Bush sailed in her third trey to tie the game at 58-58, and less than a minute later, Jones regained Houston's lead, 61-58, on a three-pointer with 2:40 left. Down by two (63-61) with just 12 seconds remaining in regulation, Virginia Tech's Lisa Guarneri made a lay up to once again tie the contest, 63-63, and force overtime.

Three minutes into over time and the score tied for the tenth time of the evening at 65-65, Muoneke and Jones put Houston on top by four with successive lay ups before Hicks sailed in her fourth trey to make it a one-point contest. With two minutes left, Bush's fourth trey put Houston back on top by four (72-68) before the Hokies' Nicole Jones hit both of her free throws to shave the Cougars' lead to two points with 1:36 left. Houston's Jones came back with yet another jumper and a free throw with 19 seconds left to give a three-point cushion, then junior Angela Curl sealed the victory with two straight free throws with two seconds left.
With the victory, Houston improves its overall record to 26-7, equaling the 1977-78 squad (26-15) for the most wins in a single season in school history. In addition, Houston's current .818 winning percentage is the best ever in the program's 27-year history.