RICHMOND, Va. – The question on everyone's mind entering the 2009-10 Virginia Commonwealth University women's basketball season was how are the Rams going to replace the two leading scorers from last year's NCAA Tournament squad?

That was answered emphatically in the Black & Gold's 72-58 home victory over the Hokies of Virginia Tech on Monday evening at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center when VCU placed five in double-figures led by sophomore Courtney Hurt's (Conyers, Ga.) 16 points.

"This is a great win for us in so many ways," Head Coach Beth Cunningham said. "The thing I'm most proud of is the way each girl took a turn at some point in the game to step up and make plays."

Sophomore point guard Jennifer Lane (Wichita, Kan.) took over at the start of the game with five of VCU's first nine points as the Rams ran out to a 9-4 advantage just three minutes into the game.

Virginia Tech would not go away as the teams battled back and forth with five ties and six lead changes in the first half before the Black & Gold put together an 8-3 run capped by four points from Hurt and three from senior Stephanie Solomon (Las Vegas, Nev.) to take a 30-24 lead into halftime.

The Rams looked to put the game away coming out of the locker room with a 15-4 run ignited by six points and four rebounds by Solomon.

A 17-point lead would be whittled down to just six points after Shanel Harrison capped off a 16-5 run by the visiting Hokies.

Senior La'Tavia Rorie (Charlotte, N.C.) (right) would not let Tech get any closer, drilling a three-pointer to push the lead to nine. It would be the closest the Hokies got the rest of the night.

Junior Ebony Patterson (Chesterfield, Va.) scored six of 10 points over the final eight minutes to help VCU put away the 72-58 victory.

Hurt added six rebounds to her 16 points, while Solomon recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds on her 23rd birthday. Patterson finished with career-highs in points with 10, assists with six and rebounds with five. Lane and Rorie added 11 and 10 points respectively.

Utahya Drye led the scoring attack for the Hokies with 14 points, while Alyssa Fenyn chipped in 13 points in the losing effort.

The Black & Gold are back in action this weekend when they travel to the Seton Hall Tournament to take on Arkansas State in the first round. Game time on Friday is set for 4 p.m.