Following their biggest ACC win in team history, the #13 Virginia Tech Hokies traveled to LJVM Coliseum in hopes of beginning 2024 on the right foot. And while the final score was closer than some may have imagined against the 4-10 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Hokies still took care of business with a 82-73 victory behind solid shooting and big time games by their superstar players.
After a night where Elizabeth Kitley was seemingly the only Hokie not knocking down shots against Pittsburgh, the two-time reigning ACC Player of the Year got back on track with a 27-point, 12-rebound, 4-block performance. Her superstar sidekick, Georgia Amoore, also played a superb game dropping 20 points and 10 assists while playing 39 minutes on the night.
Overall, the Hokies had yet another brilliant shooting performance, shooting 55% from the field, and 45% from three point range, knocking down 9 of their 20 attempts from long range. Behind this hot shooting, Virginia Tech opened up a 17-point lead in the first half in a game that felt like it could easily get out of hand in the second half.
However, Wake Forest kept the game interesting behind a brilliant third quarter, where they put up 29 points on 10 of 12 from the field. The Demon Deacons continued their hot shooting into the fourth quarter which they tied with the Hokies 18-18 to keep the final score margin in single digits.
Besides Wake Forest’s hot second half shooting, Hokie turnovers are really what kept the game competitive. Wake Forest won the turnover battle 17-9 in a game with the Hokies having more turnovers than assists. Wake Forest scored 24 points off of these turnovers, while Virginia Tech only had 14 points off of giveaways. In a game where Kitley was so good, the only area for improvement is taking care of the ball as she had seven turnovers on the night.
Fortunately for the Hokies, they were able to counter their turnover troubles with absolute domination on the glass. Virginia Tech outrebounded Wake Forest 38-20, which included 13 offensive rebounds for VT. That is more offensive rebounds that Wake Forest totaled in defensive rebounds on the night. The Hokies used these boards to score 23 points off of their own misses. Obviously, the Hokies will focus on taking care of the ball in the future because there is no reason for a game where they shoot above 50% from the field and grab 13 offensive boards to ever be a single-digit game.
In terms of surrounding players, the Hokies didn’t get much out of their bench unit, but Rose Micheaux had an efficient 13-point 7-rebound game in just 18 minutes, while Matilda Ekh contributed nine points off of three made three-pointers.
On the other hand, Wake Forest completely leaned on Elise Williams who dropped 29 on 10-18 from the field including 3-5 from three point land. Starters Kaia Harrison and Alexandria Scruggs both got into double figures combining for 24 points, while Kate Deeble scored more than double the amount of points off of the bench than Virginia Tech’s entire bench with 11.
Looking ahead, Wake Forest travels to Miami on January 7th to play their first non-ranked opponent in over a week after a tough stretch against Florida State and Virginia Tech. While they came away without a win in those two games, just keeping both of those games within 12 points is a good sign that they may be able to compete in ACC play for the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech can now look forward to January 7th where they will get tested by 3rd ranked NC State. The Hokies came up short in their first two big tests of the year against Iowa and LSU, so this will be a chance to establish themselves as true national title contenders.
