Virginia Tech Women's Basketball Routs UNC Wilmington 99-57 to Open Megan Duffy Era

Any new coach wants to make a great first impression when their team takes the court for the first time. Well for new Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy, her team did just that delivering a dominant 15-0 run to open the game on their way to a rout to start the 2024-25 season.

Virginia Tech beat UNC Wilmington 99-57 to improve to 1-0 on the season ahead of their first true test this Sunday when they take on Iowa in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte.

The Hokies came out the gates firing on all cylinders with a 15-0 run to seize control of the game and help build a 34-11 first quarter lead that would become a 55-23 lead by halftime. That included a 40-10 domination in the paint for the Hokies along with a 12-2 advantage in points off turnovers during the opening half.

The Hokies talked about wanting to be known for their defensive intensity and pushing the tempo when they need to under Megan Duffy. They did just that in this game as shown by their 23 points off turnovers in this game and 14 fastbreak points.

Tech was very good on the glass in this game with a 41-21 rebounding advantage including a 10-4 offensive rebounding advantage which they turned into a 19-3 second chance points advantage.

While lots of the talk was about the defense in the preseason, it was their offense that delivered with plenty of easy buckets, scoring 68 points in the paint while shooting 61.8% (42-68) from the field including 44.4% (8-18) from three-point range. For comparison, TLP writer Tucker Terry noted that the most points in the paint that the Hokies scored in any game last season was 36.

Safe to say, this is going to be a different Virginia Tech Women's Basketball team, one that will look to attack the paint often with a mix of post-ups and slashing while playing physical, aggressive defense and attacking in transition especially off turnovers.

Virginia Tech's leading returning scorer Matilda Ekh led the way offensively for the Hokies in this game with 18 points on 7-12 shooting and 2-2 from the free-throw line plus nine rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Meanwhile, Tech's other senior Rose Micheaux was dominant as Tech's starting center with 14 points on 7-9 shooting plus five rebounds and one steal.

Carys Baker looked more than ready for her much larger role this year with 14 points on 6-9 shooting including 2-3 from three-point range plus four rebounds. Carleigh Wenzel played aggressive and showed why she has one of the highest ceilings on this team with 14 points on 5-9 shooting and 3-5 from the free-throw line plus five assists, five rebounds, and two blocks.

It was an impressive collegiate debut for four-star freshman Kayl Petersen who had 12 points on an efficient 5-7 shooting from the field including 2-3 from three plus three rebounds, two assists, and one block. Utah transfer Lani White also was effective in her Hokies' debut with six points, four rebounds, and two assists.

Samyha Suffren came off the bench and played well with eight points, four assists, three steals, and three rebounds. Mackenzie Nelson had a very good debut with six points, six rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Tech's other debuting true freshmen were solid as Myah Hazelton had four points while Leila Wells had three points and one assist.

Virginia Tech delivered exactly the type of performance you'd hope for in Megan Duffy's debut, looking pretty sharp for an opener while clearing embracing Duffy's style. The first test for this Hokies' team looms early this year with a trip down to Charlotte for the Ally Tipoff against a borderline top 25 Iowa team. That matchup will give us a great litmus to see where this team is at and what this team's ceiling may be.

The good news is that the Hokies look pretty sharp as they prepare to head down for that first tough test on the basketball season's opening weekend.