Senior Night traditionally comes at what is the last home game of a player's collegiate career. That almost certainly won't be the case this year as #11 Virginia Tech took care of business against NC State and have basically become a lock to earn a top 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament which would cause them to host their 1st and 2nd round games at Cassell Coliseum.
The #11 Hokies beat the Wolfpack 75-62 for their sixth-straight win in front of a crowd of over 6,400 fans, the most for a VT home game during the Kenny Brooks era.
While first quarter domination had been the theme recently for the Hokies, Tech didn't get off to as fast of a start in this one trailing 19-18 after one. However, things changed in the second quarter as the Tech offense came alive shooting an insane 13-17 from the field for a 29-17 advantage that boosted them to a 47-36 lead at halftime. The Hokies didn't look back after that as their lead only went into single digits for a total of 1:35 of the final 20 minutes.
This was Tech's sixth-straight win by double digits with most of these wins being highlighted by one quarter where the Tech offense comes alive in a massive way to blow the game open. The bigger thing may be the fact that Tech has done fairly well to prevent big runs the other way though the Wolfpack did have a 10-0 stretch late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter.
Part of the story is the great job Tech did protecting the basketball for much of this time going into halftime with 11 assists compared to only 2 turnovers which was a big reason they had the lead that they had. They also were quite efficient going 31-55 (56.4%) from the field while holding the Wolfpack under 36% on the evening.
In what may be her final regular season home game, Elizabeth Kitley put on a show again with 24 points on an efficient 11-16 from the field and 2-3 from the free-throw line plus 10 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 1 assist. The Hokies' star center was dominant in all aspects and continues to make a strong case to be an All-American for the second-straight season.
Georgia Amoore may not have been the most efficient today shooting 5-15 from the field on the way to having 15 points, but she made plenty of winning plays with 11 assists compared to only 3 turnovers plus 3 rebounds. D'Asia Gregg had another strong game with 13 points on an efficient 5-6 from the field including 3-4 from three-point range plus 3 assists and 9 rebounds, coming 1 short of being the third Hokie to have a double-double in this game.
Kayana Traylor had a quiet game with 6 points and 2 rebounds while Cayla King added 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. Taylor Geiman had a larger role than expected in part because she was playing fairly well having 3 points, 2 steals, and 1 assist while Ashley Owusu played only 2 minutes. Charlise Dunn, Maddie Vesjicky, and Clara Ford all made brief appearances at the end in a move by Kenny Brooks to sub off his seniors and give them one last regular season ovation from the Cassell Coliseum crowd.
The #11 Hokies put on a show in their final regular season home game of this season as they continue to play like the best team in the ACC dominating competition. Because of that success, Tech has almost certainly sealed a top 4 seed and home court for the first 2 rounds of the NCAA Tournament with their focus on earning a top 2 seed for March Madness which is more than possible with the way they're playing, the loads of quality wins they've added recently, and their fast-rising metrics.
