Virginia Tech faced their toughest test of the season to date last night against a preseason top 25 Nebraska team hungry to get themselves a big win. However, it was the Hokies who made a statement about being a serious Final Four contender
#9 Virginia Tech beat Nebraska 85-54 to improve to 7-0 on the season while the Cornhuskers fell to 5-3. This win puts the Hokies a win over Tennessee away from likely jumping into the top 6-7 of the rankings next week after losses by 2 teams ahead of them this week.
Tech pulled this victory off without Kayana Traylor due to a non-COVID illness plus Ashley Owusu who only played the first quarter before a finger injury ended her evening.
With those 2 out, talented PG Georgia Amoore stepped up with arguably the best single game performance in program history.
She put up the first triple-double in the history of Virginia Tech Women's Basketball with 24 points on 8-15 shooting plus 11 assists and 10 rebounds while also having 1 turnover. Amoore helped Tech take control with 7 points early in the first quarter to help Tech quickly gain a double-digit lead that would rarely get underneath that number after that prior to a dominant fourth quarter.
As Amoore was chasing her 10th rebound in the latter half of the fourth quarter, there were plenty of chants from fans for that rebound. The whole team and coaches all seemed to be well aware of what was needed for the triple-double with Amoore crashing the boards and teammates trying to help clear the path for her to take hold of that 10th rebound.
Amoore has been largely overlooked given the stardom of Elizabeth Kitley plus the big transfer portal additions of Ashley Owusu and Taylor Soule, but Amoore is a rising star in her own right who earned All-ACC Honorable Mention honors just last season. Tech's future is quite bright beyond this year's loaded team in large part due to Amoore's immense talent which was on full display last night and rightly can't be overlooked anymore.
It was a strong overall night for Tech shooting 50.8% from the field compared to 33.9% for Nebraska while also only having 7 turnovers compared to 12 for the Cornhuskers. Tech took advantage of additional opportunities at a much higher rate than Nebraska with a 12-2 second chance points advantage and a 21-5 points off turnovers advantage.
Elizabeth Kitley was a big reason for the dominance as she shined once again with 24 points on 11-21 shooting plus 12 rebounds. She was also only 3 field goals away from tying her own record for the most field goals made in a game.
Taylor Soule also had a big game with 18 points on an efficient 6-9 shooting including 2-2 from three-point range plus 4-4 from the free-throw line while also adding 5 rebounds. Cayla King added 9 solid points on 3-6 shooting from three-point range while D'Asia Gregg was productive off the bench with 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Charlise Dunn added a three and a steal while Taylor Geiman played a few minutes as well.
On what was a historic night for Amoore that rightly is the headline story, this was a statement type performance from the Hokies. To beat a preseason top 25 team in Nebraska is even more proof that this Virginia Tech is not only a serious Final Four contender but also should even receive consideration as a national title threat this year.
