Christmas came early for Kenny Brooks and Co. as the Virginia Tech Hokies started off ACC play with a 92-75 victory over Florida State in Tallahassee; registering the first win in the Sunshine State’s capital since 2006.
Despite the several times the Hokies have eclipsed the 80 point mark, it’s the first time that the Hokies jumped above the 90 point mark. It was a combined effort thanks to the five players who reached double figures on the day.
The team shot a season-best 56.4 percent from the floor and 47.6 percent from three-point land, their best from behind the arc in the month of December.
Leading the way for the Hokies was Elizabeth Kitley, who recorded a monster afternoon with her 34 points, a program-best since 2008, and 13 rebounds, giving the junior her fifth double-double of the young season.
In addition, she led her teammates with a game-high four blocks, 13 of 19 shooting from the floor and 80 percent from the free throw line.
Georgia Amoore was lethal from behind the arc, knocking down five of her seven attempts to record a new season-high with 20 points. Her five makes counted for half of the team’s makes from downtown with fellow starters Cayla King and Aisha Sheppard, recording three and two threes, respectively.
What helped the Hokies out most on Sunday was finding consistency at the Donald L. Tucker Center. In all four quarters, they found a way to score 20+ points in each frame, thanks to some excellent shooting.
After trailing in the first quarter, the Hokies played an excellent 10 minutes heading into the break with 11 of 15 shooting from the floor to put themselves up by eight at halftime. During the late stretch of the second quarter, the visitors ensembled a 10-0 run, their best of the day, to give the Hokies what was their biggest lead of the day with seven.
Their worst quarter from the floor came in the third where they still shot 40 percent on six of 15 shooting, but the Hokies did a superb job getting to the free-throw line and knocking down 10 of their 13 free throw attempts. That effort continued into the fourth quarter with the Hokies being able to put the Seminoles away with nine of 10 shooting from the free throw line.
For starters, King had a perfect afternoon from the floor, but didn’t take many opportunities with only four attempts in the game. Meanwhile, Sheppard had a more quiet afternoon to her standards with 11 points.
Both players battled with foul trouble all afternoon with Sheppard fouling out late in the fourth quarter with King not sitting too far behind with four personals of her own.
Recording yet another double figure performance off the bench was Kayana Traylor, who accounted for 14 points on the day. The Purdue transfer had a huge role in the free throw shooting for the Hokies, who went eight of 10 from the line.
The guard now has seven performances where she has reached 10 or more points and she currently sits as the third highest scorer with 10 points per game.
It was a dream start to conference play for Virginia Tech as they now get 10 days off for Christmas before hitting the hardwood again on Dec. 30 when they host Duke in Cassell Coliseum.
