Virginia Tech Women's Basketball has had some very talented frontcourt players over the years including most notably Elizabeth Kitley, the three-time ACC Player of the Year and All-American who led the Hokies to their first Final Four in program history. However, no Hokie including Kitley has achieved some of the feats that Jessica Dimaro achieved Thursday night at VCU.
Dimaro made lots of Hokie history as she broke Virginia Tech's single-game rebounds record of 21 (held by four different players including Kitley) with 24 rebounds plus 23 points in the Hokies' 77-66 victory against VCU.
This included Dimaro's 17 offensive rebounds which are likely the school record and officially the most since the 1987-88 season. The previous record for offensive rebounds since at least 1987-88 was at 11 set by Utahya Drye in a 68-62 overtime victory over USC Upstate on February 2nd, 2009.
Dimaro's rebounding performance wasn't the only part of her history-making night as the Nigerian center also had the first 20+ point, 20+ rebound game in Virginia Tech history with her 24 rebounds and 23 points. That is a tremendous achievement regardless of the opponent, especially since great centers like Liz Kitley were unable to achieve that in a single game.
With tonight's performance, Dimaro has now had 13+ rebounds in three of her first four games as a Hokie following her arrival from the Japanese W League. Her current average of 14.5 rebounds per game does have her on pace to break Regan Magarity's record of 12.8 rebounds per game, set in the 2018-19 season. However, there's obviously still a very long ways to go in this season with tougher competition looming for Dimaro.
Regardless of the competition, Dimaro is off to a dream start as a Hokie averaging well over a double-double with 15.5 points and 14.5 rebounds per game. If she stays anywhere near this pace the rest of the season, she could easily be an All-ACC player in her first season in Blacksburg and elevate the Hokies' overall ceiling this year.
Sign up for the TLP newsletter to get all our great coverage of the Hokies including some exclusive content right in your inbox multiple times per week here.
