It was a historic day at Cassell Coliseum, as it was the first sell out in Virginia Tech Women’s Basketball history. The No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies did not disappoint in the biggest game of the year against the No. 3 NC State Wolfpack. With this big ACC matchup on tap, the Hokies gave the fans their money’s worth and came out victorious, 63-62. The dynamic duo of Liz Kitley and Georgia Amoore combined for 48 of the Hokies 63 points. On top of the scoring, Kitley recorded yet another double-double, tacking on 12 rebounds.
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Virginia Tech struggled early defensively, especially from beyond the arc. In the first quarter, 63% of the Wolfpack's points were thanks to the three ball. Freshman guard Laci Steele came off the bench and drained 2 of the 4 made three pointers in the quarter.
Moving forward in this game, preventing the three was crucial if the Hokies wanted to stay in contention. With the second quarter around the corner, Kenny Brooks made sure to get his squads defense tuned. The Maroon and Orange did just that as they held the Wolfpack to a inferior 1-7 from the perimeter, only scoring 9 total points in the quarter.
As halftime rolled around, the Hokies trailed by a hair, 25-28. Amoore was a cold 1-8 from the field with 3 points at the end of the first half. After the game, she was asked what she told herself at halftime. “I went into the locker room and slapped myself in the face a little bit and told myself to get out of my funk,” Amoore said. While that is an interesting strategy, it was clearly the secret ingredient to her successful 18 point second half.
Both offenses turned on the jets early to kick off the second half. The back and forth score frenzy throughout the quarter was nearly even, but ended up being won by the Wolfpack, 24-20. NC State would hold a 52-45 lead entering the last 10 minutes of play.
The media break between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter didn’t affect the Wolfpack, as they tallied on a quick 8 points in just over two minutes of play, extending their lead to 60-49. Senior guard Madison Hayes contributed to 5 of those points on her already impressive performance. That would be the end of the scoring road for NC State however. The Snow Miser must’ve rained down on the Wolfpack as they went completely ice cold when they needed scoring the most.
Brooks’s Hokies dialed in and went on a remarkable 12-0 run over the next 6 minutes to get within one point, 61-60. With 7.4 seconds to go, NC State junior star Saniya Rivers made a tough over the head underhand layup with Kitley right in her face.
The veteran would get her revenge, however, as with 2.1 ticks left, the three point specialist Cayla King threw a perfect inbounds pass leading to a Kitley game winning basket. Virginia Tech’s storybook ending should solidify them back in the top 10 rankings.
The Hokies look to stay undefeated in the ACC as their next game will be against the Miami Hurricanes at home on January 11 at 8:00pm on ACC Network.
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