Amoore's triple-double pushes No. 9 Virginia Tech over Nebraska, 85-54

By Jack Brizendine

Staff Writer

December 1, 2022

BLACKSBURG — It would’ve been easy for Georgia Amoore to lose confidence after a rough week of shooting during practice.

She could’ve taken a back seat on offense to try and find her shot again.

Instead, the Australian native made history, earning the program’s first ever triple-double en route to No. 9 Virginia Tech’s dominant win over Nebraska, 85-54.

“Obviously the night belonged to Georgia,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks told reporters after the game. “She came out here today and she was phenomenal. To get a triple-double, it’s unbelievable. Very, very proud of her and the way that she executed everything we needed her to do on both ends of the floor.”

Amoore dropped 24 points, dished out 11 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds to notch the historic statline.

The performance is one that Amoore attributes to Brooks’ trust in her and the help of her teammates.

“Coach Brooks just let me play,” Amoore said. “He lets me play free and he has no restrictions on me so I know if I do something — obviously if it’s really stupid, then that’s not a good thing — but he just lets me play.

“Freshman me would never get a double-double or anything like that. That's just my teammates too because they made [shots off] my passes, first of all. Towards the end when I was edging on rebounds, they kind of just boxed out and kept their person from getting in and kind of let me just go and get it so huge thank you to them.

“Obviously you can’t have a triple-double or even a double-double without your teammates.”

Amoore’s standout night was exactly what the Hokies needed after Ashley Owusu exited the game last in the first quarter with an injury to her hand and never entered again. Kayana Traylor also missed the game with a non-COVID illness.

With two key players sidelined, the Hokies leaned on Amoore, Elizabeth Kitley and Taylor Soule to carry the load offensively. The trio combined for 66 of VT’s 85 points.

“We just knew we had to be the best versions of ourselves and I think we all went out and did that,” Amoore said about the team’s mindset with Owsusu and Traylor out.

Despite maintaining control of the game for nearly the entire 40 minutes, Virginia Tech only led by 13 points heading into the fourth quarter.

With the game still not fully locked up, the Hokies slammed the door on the Cornhuskers, riding a 20-0 run from the end of the third quarter to the 5:24 mark in the fourth.

Tech out-scored Nebraska 30-12 in the final 10 minutes to seal the victory.

“I think we fed off our defense,” Brooks said about the Hokies’ dominant fourth quarter. “We did a really good job of taking away some things. We rebounded the basketball, we got out and we stayed aggressive on the offensive end. We were very strategic in running our offenses and we had the best of both worlds. We were taking some time off the clock and we were still scoring.

“When you can do things like that you really control the game.”

The win moves Virginia Tech to 7-0 and the Hokies will now move their attention to Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Tech goes into Knoxville looking to avenge its 64-58 loss against the Volunteers in Blacksburg last season.