Blacksburg, Va. – Lauren Bogle led all USC Upstate scorers with a career-high 13 points on Sunday afternoon as the Spartans fell in a hard-fought contest to the Virginia Tech Hokies, 65-61, in non-conference action inside Cassell Coliseum.

Upstate falls to 4-6 on the season while the Hokies improve to 8-2 overall.

Bogle was one of three Spartans to finish the game in double-figures offensively. Brittany Clency contributed 11 points and Sharmayne Edwards came off the bench to score 10. Brittany Starling led all Upstate players with nine rebounds.

The Spartans led Virginia Tech 25-24 at intermission despite shooting 9-of-37 (24.3%) from the field. Upstate created six points off nine Hokie turnovers and eight second-chance points on 12 offensive rebounds. The Spartans out-rebounded Virginia Tech 26-23 and held a 10-4 advantage in points in the paint.

Neither team was able to register a field goal for nearly three minutes to start the game until Starling put Upstate in front 2-0 on her layup at the 17:01 mark. Clency made it 4-0 on the next possession with her jumper. The Hokies answered with an 8-0 run over the next 3:11 to lead 8-4 on a three-pointer by Maddison Penn.

Virginia Tech never led by more than three points the remainder of the half as Valese McAllister tied the contest at 20-20 following her jumper with 4:45 left. Edwards gave the Spartans the lead back at 23-20 on her three-pointer at the 4:08 mark and would hold the lead going into the locker room.

Bogle led all Upstate scorers in the first half with eight points and three steals, while Starling added six rebounds. Uju Ugoka had a team-high 10 points for the Hokies and Taijah Campbell contributed nine rebounds.

Virginia Tech began the second half on a 12-4 run over the first 4:07 to lead 36-29 after a three-point play by Ugoka. The Spartans cut the deficit back to five, 38-33, on Bogle's layup with 14:52 remaining, but the Hokies increased their lead back to seven two possessions later on Ugoka's jumper.

VT stretched its lead to eight, 41-33, on Hannah Young's free throw until a three-pointer by Edwards cut the lead back to five. Upstate stayed within a five-point deficit during the next 1:11 when a layup by Starling made it a three-point contest at 41-38.

A three-pointer by Clency at the 9:52 mark cut the Hokies lead to 43-41 before a quick 6-0 run over the next minute increased the home team's lead to 49-41. Two field goals by Starling on back-to-back possessions put the Spartans back to within four, 49-45, with 7:59 remaining in the game. Virginia Tech took a six-point lead, 53-47, with 6:25 left on Campbell's layup, but Upstate stuck around to trim the advantage down to one on Clency's jumper.

Edwards kept the Spartans within two at 56-54 after her field goal at the 4:00 mark but Ugoka put the Hokies back in front by four with two free-throws the following possession. Clency guided Upstate to within a one-point deficit with five seconds left after her jumper and layup. Vanessa Panousis was successful on two free-throws to put Virginia Tech back in front 64-61 with 4.2 seconds remaining.

The Spartans last chance to tie the game came up short as Travonda Haddock's full-court pass was intercepted by Young. She hit one free-throw to give the Hokies a 65-61 victory.

Upstate finished the game shooting 34.7% (25-of-72) from the floor and Virginia Tech went 21-of-52 (40.4%). The Spartans held the lead in points in the paint (28-14), points off turnovers (10-7), second-chance points (15-6) and bench points (38-11).

Ugoka led all players with a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds.

The five-game road trip for Upstate comes to an end on Saturday, Dec. 21 when it makes the short trip to Greenville to face the Furman Paladins at 2 p.m.

Follow Upstate women's basketball on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.