Entering Saturday’s contest against Coppin State, the Virginia Tech Hokies had been very reliant on the efforts of redshirt sophomore guard and Texas native Carleigh Wenzel.
Wenzel came into the non-conference matchup averaging 17.7 points per game, pacing a rather inexperienced Hokies squad led by first year head coach Megan Duffy.
In today’s game, however, Tech did not need to lean on its star as all eleven Hokies who played in the contest registered a point, showcasing the depth of the young squad as Virginia Tech (3-1) was able to beat the Coppin State Eagles (2-3) down, 86-51.
“It just shows how important everyone is, and how deep we can go,” said center Rose Micheaux. “It shows that everyone is a threat, inside and out. Ramiya [White] got her first collegiate points, we love that. But it just shows freshman, sophomore, junior, senior - everyone has a role and they play it to an extreme level.
Speaking of Micheaux, the senior and second year Hokie had her best outing in a Virginia Tech uniform.
The Hokies’ second-leading scorer had her first double-double since coming to Blacksburg, with 19 points and 11 boards on 9/12 shooting while making her lone attempt at the free throw line.
Micheaux was a physical presence in the post, drawing defenders - and crashing the offensive boards hard, something the whole team did well in the blowout victory, totaling nine on Saturday.
“I thought Rose was very good offensively,” said Duffy. “I thought she got to her spots…she’s got a lot in her bag for her offensive ability, different post moves, and she's getting really confident in her jumper which is really great to see…”
The Hokies jumped out to a 25-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Wenzel leading the way (eight of her 11 points on the game).
However, two early fouls forced Duffy to go to the bench, leading to the best game of the season from guards like Lani White - who hit her first two threes of the season, Samyah Suffren - a defensive anchor on the perimeter, as well as Mackenzie Nelson - who paced the team in assists with five (tied with Matilda Ekh).
It was the second quarter in which the team’s defense really got going, taking several charges, jumping all over loose balls, and poaching the ball away from the Eagles that led to multiple fastbreak scores.
Coppin State scored a combined 19 points between the second and third quarters, despite forward Laila Lawrence (the team’s leading scorer) dropping 20 in the game.
“I think everyone just locked into the personnel,” said sophomore wing Carys Baker on the Hokies defense holding the Eagles to 30 percent from the field over the final three quarters. “We knew that they had two really good players [Lawrence and Angel Jones], the whole team was really solid…we wanted to hold them to a certain standard, we want to hold ourselves to a certain standard on defense, all week we’ve been working on that…”
The Hokies move to 3-0 early in the season at home in Cassell Coliseum, a building that has been one of the strongest and loudest in women’s college basketball over the past few seasons. Megan Duffy is taking notice of the home crowd’s impact, and is very appreciative of what is to come from Hokie Nation.
“It’s fun playing here,” said Duffy. “I thought we had a nice crowd today…for people to come in and watch women’s basketball, we love it. You gotta protect your home floor…I’m enjoying every minute of it, learning all the chants and the cheers. Sometimes the crowd can get on the referees so I don’t have to, so that's cool too…”
With eleven on the score sheet, Virginia Tech had four in double-digits (Micheaux, Baker, Wenzel, White), in addition to ten combined points from Ekh and freshman Kayl Petersen - whose presence was felt with hard, unselfish play.
The Hokies return to action at home on Tuesday night against Rutgers. That should be a tough test for a young Virginia Tech team that is continuing to grow and improve.
