BLACKSBURG -- Without two-thirds of its senior leadership on board, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team lurched and listed dangerously Friday night before pulling out a 59-53 victory over UNC Greensboro in its season opener at Cassell Coliseum.

The Hokies learned at midweek that senior Brittany Cook, the ACC's leading scorer a year ago, would be out for the season with a torn ACL.

On Friday, senior forward Amber Hall also sat out, still suffering the effects of a hit to the chin she took in Tech's preseason exhibition game Monday night.

Even without those two, the Hokies jumped out to a double-digit lead and were up 37-19 at halftime. But the edge quickly dissipated in a hail of poor shooting and turnovers in the second half.

With four minutes to go, Tech was up 51-48. But Utahya Drye grabbed some clutch defensive rebounds down the stretch and nailed a pair of free throws at 2:31 to end a 5 ¹₂-minute scoring drought.

"I told myself 'I have to hit these free throws, it could dictate the game,' " Drye said.

Once Drye broke the film that had grown over the Hokies' basket, Lindsay Biggs took over, scoring six points in the final 2 minutes to secure the win.

Drye led Tech with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Biggs scored a career-high 14 points and added seven boards and five assists. Lakeisha Logan also scored a career-high with 12 points.

The Hokies had shot 37.5 percent from the field and committed just four turnovers in the first half, leaping ahead by 33-11 with 4:25 to go before halftime.

"We lost a little bit of that spark we had in the first half," Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said.

The Hokies shot just 26.7 percent from the floor in the second half and had 10 turnovers.

Haskins said that while it would "always be my preference to half blowouts," she was pleased with Friday's outcome.

"Last year we had teams come back on us and we would let it get away from us, and it was good to see us hang on to win," Haskins said.

Note

Porschia Hadley, Alyssa Fenyn, Abby Redick and Aerial Wilson signed letters of intent to play for the Hokies starting next season, Dunkenberger announced.

Hadley, a 6-foot-4 post from Montezuma, Ga., averaged 22 points and 18 rebounds a game as a junior at Macon County High School and is a three-time Georgia all-state pick.

Fenyn, a 6-foot guard, averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds for Newark (N.J.) High School and was a two time first-team all-state selection.

Wilson, a 5-8 guard from Cocoa, Fla., was the second leading scorer in the state last year with 28 points a game for Rockledge High School.

Redick, a 6-foot forward from Hidden Valley, was first team all-state in 2006 and second-team in 2007. The two-time All-Timesland pick, younger sister of former Duke star J.J. Redick, had surgery to repair a torn ACL in August.

UNCG MP FG FT R A F PT

Smith 27 0-6 0-0 2 2 0 0

Hyson 29 3-10 5-5 4 4 2 11

Floyd 33 3-6 3-4 8 1 2 9

Boone 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Grimsley 24 4-9 0-0 2 0 5 10

Morkunaite 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Folwell 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Banner 9 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 4

Leigh 29 3-8 4-5 7 2 0 11

Mullins 13 1-4 0-0 3 0 2 3

Girstautaite 20 1-4 1-5 9 0 4 3

Corbett 4 1-3 0-2 0 0 0 2

Totals 200 18-54 13-21 39 9 15 53

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Drye 37 6-13 3-3 9 2 2 15

Gordon 25 2-5 1-2 6 1 3 5

Biggs 32 5-14 2-2 7 5 2 14

Haskins 34 4-11 0-0 7 4 4 8

Grey 20 0-8 0-0 9 1 3 0

Logan 22 5-9 0-0 4 0 2 12

Harrison 12 0-4 3-4 2 1 1 3

Basham 18 1-6 0-0 1 2 3 2

Totals 200 23-70 9-11 49 16 20 59

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

UNC Greensboro 19 34 -- 53

Virginia Tech 37 22 -- 59

3-point goals: UNCG 4-11 (Smith 0-1, Hyson 0-1, Grimsley 2-4, Leigh 1-3, Mullins 1-2), VT4-15 (Biggs 2-6, Haskins 0-1, Logan 2-6, Harrison 0-1, Basham 0-1). Turnovers: UNCG 15 (Hyson 3, Floyd 3), VT 14 (Grey 4). Blocked shots: UNCG 6 (Girstautaite 3), VT 1 (Harrison 1). Steals: UNCG 6 (Hyson 2, Floyd 2), VT 3 (Haskins 3).

Officials: Brunette, Novak, Salerno. Attendance: 2,080.