RICHMOND -- VCU coach Beth Cunningham had to chase forward Stephanie Solomon out of the weight room on Monday afternoon. It being her 23rd birthday and the Rams' season opener, Solomon confessed, she was just too excited and wanted to burn off some energy.

Cunningham told Solomon to save it for game time. The senior center did.

Solomon scored a double-double and the Rams beat the Hokies on the boards, in transition and most importantly on the scoreboard 72-58 at the Siegel Center. She also had three steals and two blocks.

"They were much more physical than us," Hokies forward Shanel Harrison said. "We needed to bow up and be more physical than them."

But they weren't.

"They're a physical, aggressive team," Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said. "Rather than fight back, we complained a lot."

Utahya Drye led the Hokies (1-1) with 14 points, but scored just three in the first half when the Rams took the lead they would never cede.

Lindsay Biggs, who was last year's second-leading scorer behind Drye, didn't score in the first half and had only six points for the game. Biggs had four rebounds and four assists, but four turnovers.

Freshman Alyssa Fenyn had 13 points, four rebounds and also four turnovers. Brittany Gordon had eight points and six boards, but had six of those points in the first half.

Point guard Nikki Davis, who had a strong all-around game leading the team for the first time against Longwood, scored just two points and delivered two assists while committing six of Tech's 24 turnovers.

Harrison had six points and seven rebounds for the Hokies, who committed more turnovers in the first half -- 14 -- than they did in their season-opening win against Longwood on Friday.

Solomon scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Rams (1-0), who had five players score in double figures. La'Tavia Rorie scored 10 points including two clutch 3-pointers in the second half that kept VCU from losing its hold on the Hokies.

The Rams grabbed that hold in the first half, when Tech went 10 minutes without scoring a field goal. The score was tied at 20 when the buckets stopped, and the Hokies went 2-for-4 from the foul line and committed nine turnovers during the dry spell. At one point, Tech went 8 ¹₂ minutes between even free-throw chances.

The Rams too struggled, going 4 ¹₂ minutes without a score after taking a 25-21 lead.

But VCU recovered before Tech did and led 30-24 at the break.

And the Hokies were no better after the break. The Rams scored nine unanswered points -- six by Solomon -- to open the second half and with 15 ¹₂ minutes left Tech was down 43-26.

Dunkenberger shuffled players in and out, trying to find someone who would give the rebounding effort she needed. She cited freshman forward Taylor Ayers, who had three boards and two points in just four minutes, as "who probably responded as well as anybody."

Tech was again down by 17 when Dunkenberger sent in defensive spark plug Shani Grey. The Hokies were down by 11 when Ayers came in with 12 minutes to play.

Gordon scored on a putback to cut the deficit to nine points, but Rorie nailed a 3-pointer to plump up VCU's lead to 50-38 with 11:19 to play.

Over the next 2 ¹₂ minutes Ayers got two defensive rebounds, a block and a layup. With 8:42 to play, the Hokies cut the deficit to 50-44 on a layup by Harrison.

But Rorie would not give in. She hit her second 3-pointer of the game to kick off a 7-0 VCU run.

"If I panic, then the young players -- they look up to me -- they're going to panic," Rorie said. "I was in foul trouble. By keeping my composure, it kept everybody up, and it was fine."

VIRGINIA TECH (1-1)

Redick 1-2 0-0 2, Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 1-4 0-0 2, Fenyn 5-8 3-4 13, Drye 4-6 6-8 14, Biggs 3-10 0-2 6, Hadley 1-2 1-3 3, Gordon 4-6 0-0 8, Logan 0-1 0-0 0, Grey 1-1 0-0 2, Ayers 1-2 0-0 2, Harrison 2-7 2-2 6. Totals 23-50 12-19 58.

VCU (1-0)

Lane 2-2 6-6 11, Patterson 3-8 4-6 10, Hobson 0-0 0-0 0, Rorie 3-8 2-4 10, Solomon 5-7 1-2 11, Taylor 3-13 0-1 7, Moss 3-11 0-0 7, Hurt 7-13 1-3 16. Totals 26-62 14-22 72.

Halftime--VCU 30-24. 3-Point Goals--Virginia Tech 0-8 (Biggs 0-5, Wilson 0-1, Davis 0-1, Fenyn 0-1), VCU 6-18 (Rorie 2-4, Lane 1-1, Hurt 1-2, Moss 1-4, Taylor 1-7). Fouled out--none. Rebounds--Virginia Tech 39 (Harrison 7), VCU 33 (Solomon 10). Assists--Virginia Tech 15 (Drye 4), VCU 13 (Patterson 6). Total Fouls--Virginia Tech 20, VCU 18. A--1,756.