After a couple losses to Tennessee and Liberty, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team has found their best form and them some with a dominant win at Florida State to open ACC play pre-Christmas followed by a statement blowout victory over #15 Duke.
Virginia Tech beat #15 Duke 77-55 to improve to 10-3 overall including 2-0 in ACC play while Duke fell to 9-2 overall including 0-1 in ACC play.
Tech's defense was crucial to their success as they held Duke to under 34% from the field in each of the first three quarters including 8-39 combined in the second and third quarters where the Hokies went on some big runs to take a 59-31 lead into the fourth quarter in a game where the Hokies led by even more than that at times.
Tech also did well at the free-throw line going an insane 20-20 with Elizabeth Kitley leading the way with 9-9 herself. Meanwhile, Tech won the outside battle as the Hokies were 9-22 from three while Duke was 3-18 from three. Additionally, VT turned 12 Duke turnovers in 17 points with the Blue Devils only scoring 4 off only 9 Hokie turnovers.
Elizabeth Kitley had a leading performance as expected as the Hokies' star center had 27 points (including her perfect 9-9 from the FT line) plus 13 rebounds and only 3 blocks as she dominated the game in the paint.
Georgia Amoore was a major difference maker as well with 20 points of her own on 7-12 shooting from the field including an impressive 4-8 from three-point range while adding 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and only 1 turnover which is insanely good for a point guard.
Kayana Traylor also got into double figures with 13 points plus 2 assists and 1 rebound while Aisha Sheppard had a quiet night with 9 points but also added 3 assists, 3 rebounds. Cayla King rounded out the starters with 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal while D'Asia Gregg led the bench with 2 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist. Taylor Geiman had 3 points and 1 steal, and Emily Lytle had 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Virginia Tech is showing why they were a preseason top 25 team and are a win over Wake Forest away from having a great chance at being ranked next week again and likely going forward given the talent on this team. Amoore also continues to show that the Hokies have more of a star trio and not just a star duo of Kitley and Sheppard who all have loads of experience that make these Hokies a serious threat to make a deep run in March.
Right now, the basketball team playing at the highest level in Blacksburg is probably the women's team.