Last year, the Virginia Tech Hokies went on the road to Knoxville and shocked the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, but the Lady Vols had their chance today to get the revenge that many expected them to. However, the Hokies were ready for the challenge and they stepped up in a huge way in this game to pull off the upset.
Virginia Tech pulled off a big upset taking down 17th-ranked Tennessee 67-63 to extend their win streak over the Lady Vols to 2 after last year's upset in Knoxville. The Hokies are now 6-0 with a signature win over Tennessee that will at least have them close to the top 25 and may push them in thanks to having some other quality wins over Georgetown and two road wins over UCF and Charleston.
The Hokies were led by a tremendous performance from point guard Chanette Hicks who was a nightmare for the Lady Vols throughout the game. Hicks had 24 points, 8 steals, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists with her 8 steals being only one less than the Virginia Tech single game record. Hicks is developing into a star as a sophomore and her performance drew this comment from Kenny Brooks after the game.
https://twitter.com/techlunchpaild/status/802992564945223680
Hicks wasn't the only who played well as senior forward Sidney Cook had a strong game despite facing a big Tennessee frontcourt with 14 points. 12 rebounds, and 2 steals. Meanwhile, fellow forward Regan Magrity also had a strong game with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block including 3 layups in a row that helped set up an 11-0 run for the Hokies to end the third quarter that Tennessee was never able to fully come back from.
Sami Hill had a poor day from the field shooting 1-for-14 but was credited heavily by Kenny Brooks for her defense on Tennessee' Diamond DeShields who had 10 turnovers while Hill herself still had 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. Vanessa Panousis had a solid game with 6 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds while Diandra DaRosa had 3 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.
For the Hokies, their defense was quite good as they forced 21 Tennessee turnovers while they were also able to score often in the paint despite Tennessee's size with 46 points in the paint compared to 34 for Tennessee. Virginia Tech also did a good job of limiting themselves to 10 turnovers and only being outrebounded 53-43 including only 14-13 in offensive rebounds.
Virginia Tech has gotten off to an impressive start to kick off the Kenny Brooks and will at least be close to the top 25 if they don't jump in after taking down the Lady Vols. If they don't jump in, the Hokies will have another chance to improve those chances as they host Nebraska on Thursday as a part of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.
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