The Hokies’ sluggish game against Loyola (MD) seemed to carry into this game against Gardner-Webb early on. However, defense and rebounding helped spur the Hokies to a dominant 87-51 win to improve to 3-0.
Despite the high score, the Hokies couldn’t buy a bucket early on, going 9-21 (42%) from the field and 0-7 (0%) from deep in the first quarter. The shooting woes continued, going 15-41 (36%) in the first half overall. Tech's tempo also appeared to be more akin to their game against Loyola (MD), with a much slower start than their quick opening against Towson.
Continuing the trend from the early season, the Hokies’ strong suit has been their defense, holding Gardner-Webb to 9-29 (31%) from the field and limiting them to 23 points in the first half. The Hokies forced eleven turnovers in the opening 20 minutes including five steals.
Gardner-Webb’s struggles offensively were also a symptom of Virginia Tech’s physicality on the boards. They were out-rebounded 54-27 throughout the game. The Hokies also notched an impressive 30 offensive rebounds that turned into 35 second chance points.
“That was an interesting stat, the 30 [offensive]-boards,” Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy said after the game. “I always say there’s a lot of missed shots when that happens too, so there is a catch with it all.”
Kilah Freelon notched a career-high 18 boards, finishing three shy of Elizabeth Kitley’s program high of 21 in 2021, who also happened to be on radio call for the Hokies tonight. Freelon also tallied 12 points for her second double-double in two games this season.
“It was a really big key for us to crash the boards on both ends of the floor,” Freelon on her career high game. “The fact that I was actually able to get those boards and the hustle I had was positive.”
At the end of the half, the Hokies were leading 40-23, off of Samyha Suffren and Carleigh Wenzel’s 22 combined points, 11 for each.
Both sides experienced an offensive surge in the third quarter of the game. The Hokies scored 29 points, more than matching Gardner-Webb's 17. That helped give the Hokies some much-needed separation to get younger players more minutes later on.
Samyha Suffren had a career night with 17 points and four boards. She went 6-13 from the field including 2-5 from deep. Defensively, she seemed like she was all around the ball with her four steals, out of the team’s 23 forced turnovers. The career performance is just three games back from her season-ending injury in December.
“Samyha has been through a lot with the injury,” Duffy said. “She has been champing at the bit to have a breakout game, and she’s been doing the right thing.”
Transfers Kilah Freelon and Mel Daley spoke highly of Suffren after the game on her energy and play. Daley described her as the team’s “spark."
Mel Daley had her best game as a Hokie, with 14 points while going 6-7 from the field including a three in 16 minutes of play.
The Hokies saw five players score in double figures: Suffren (17), Daley (14), Freelon (12), Wenzel (12), and Baker (10). A balanced offense propelled the high-scoring affair for the Hokies, despite the lack of efficiency, shooting 29-78 (37.2%) from the field and 8-34 (23.5%) from deep.
“I think any night you don’t know who it could be,” said Mel Daley on the Hokie’s depth. “We have incredible depth, and I think everybody on this team can make an impact.”
We know what the Hokies are defensively, but there are still many uncertainties about what Megan Duffy wants from her offense. We do know that they'll want to recover from their "off night," as Daley put it, and return to more efficient shooting.
The Hokies will play Coastal Carolina in an attempt to maintain their early-season winning streak this Saturday in Cassell Coliseum
