The reigning ACC Tournament champions had a very disappointing end to their conference tournament run this time around, as Virginia Tech lost to Notre Dame 82-53 in the semifinals. This is the second time the Hokies have lost to Notre Dame in the last two weeks, and now their third loss in their last four outings.
The last time these two teams played, Hannah Hidalgo dropped 23 and the Fighting Irish won the rebounding battle by 1, which proved to be two of the main reasons Notre Dame picked up the win. With that in mind, if you were to tell a Virginia Tech fan prior to the game, that they would hold the ACC’s leading scorer, Hannah Hidalgo, to an inefficient 15 points, and win the rebounding battle, a Hokie fan would be feeling pretty good about the outcome.
However, despite neutralizing those key departments, everything else seemed to favor the Irish leading to a near 30 point loss.
On the offensive end, this game was very similar to yesterday’s as the Hokies were unable to find any offense outside of Georgia Amoore, who once again scored almost half of her team's total points. Virginia Tech struggled to get easy looks around the basket, typically having to settle for tough jumpers, and even when they got easy looks, they often blew those opportunities.
For the afternoon, the Hokies shot just 30% from the floor, 29% from three-point range, and 43% from the charity stripe, while turning the ball over 14 times.
Despite rough shooting and turnover issues in the first half, the game didn’t get out of hand until a 19-2 run to start the second half, which Georgia Amoore described as a “third quarter blitz.”
“When they went on that run to start off, we were just sloppy. We didn’t play defense like we did in the first half,” Amoore said.
A saving grace for Virginia Tech is that many of the mistakes they made tonight were unusual, and therefore can be fixed moving forward. Even on a cold shooting game without Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech doesn’t get blown out if they finish their layups and cut down on the sloppy, unforced turnovers that plagued them in the second and third quarters. Georgia Amoore agreed with that sentiment and has some optimism that what plagued them against Notre Dame can be fixed.
“We did stupid stuff, and if we eliminated half of that, then it would have been a more interesting game. If we had made more shots, it would have been an interesting game. It’s nothing magical. It’s simple stuff that we can achieve," Amoore said.
Obviously, everyone is hoping Elizabeth Kitley can return for the NCAA Tournament, but whether or not she is available, there are many ways the Hokies can improve and be ready for the tournament.
On the game, Georgia Amoore led Virginia Tech in scoring with 24 points on 29 shot attempts, while Olivia Summiel was the only other Hokie to get into double figures, finishing with a monster 10-point, 18-rebound double double.
While this was a disappointing effort from Virginia Tech, Notre Dame also deserves a lot of credit for the way they were able to shoot the ball. The Fighting Irish aren’t known for their three-point prowess, making just 5.5 threes per game, good for just 11th in the ACC. However, they shot an incredible 9-14 from long range. This hot shooting helped them take advantage of a 2-3 zone that had worked so well for the Hokies less than 24 hours before against Miami.
Anna DeWolfe, specifically, couldn't miss, draining four of her five three-point attempts, on her way to 14 points and five assists. DeWolfe joined Maddy Westbeld, Hannah Hidalgo, and leading scorer Sonia Citron, in double figures in what was a very well balanced offensive attack for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is peaking at the perfect time, similar to how the Hokies did last year, now having won seven straight and a chance to make it eight in the ACC Tournament Championship game against NC State. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, is in the midst of one of their roughest patches of the season and has so much uncertainty surrounding them with Elizabeth Kitley injured.
One thing that is certain though, is that Kenny Brooks will do all he can to make sure his team is ready to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ll get back at it and we’ll get back to what we do best and get ready for the NCAA Tournament,” Brooks said.
