Hokies-Irish Women's Basketball Preview

Topher Wagner

January 21, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Coming off yet another loss, Virginia Tech desperately needs a win to keep pace in the competitive ACC as Notre Dame comes to Blacksburg.

Just over a month ago, the Hokies were riding high. Virginia Tech started the season 6-0 and entered its slate of conference games with a renewed confidence of making a run at the coveted ACC title. This all came to a halt in a trip to South Bend as Notre Dame upset the Hokies 84-78. Since that loss, Virginia Tech has lost four of its past five games and are in dire need of a victory to right the ship and get its season back on track. For the scrappy Hokies, a rematch against the same Fighting Irish that started this skid may be just what they need.

For Notre Dame, the last couple of games couldn’t have been more different from its ACC counterparts. The Fighting Irish have won four out of five games and sit at fourth in the conference. The dynamic duo of Maddy Westbeld and Dara Mabrey have been leading the way for Notre Dame, as the two dominated both sides of the ball in the team’s 10-point win over Boston College earlier this week. The Fighting Irish look to continue this hot streak by sweeping the regular season series versus the Hokies.

Fresh off being named one of the Co-ACC players of the week, the Hokies will need star center Elizabeth Kitley to continue her stellar season in order to hold off Notre Dame. In their first matchup Kitley put on a show, dropping a game high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting and tallied seven rebounds as well. For Notre Dame, it’ll look to Mabrey, the former Hokie, to keep up her hot shooting as she put up 21 points and missed only one shot in the win over Boston College.

Coming into this matchup, Virginia Tech trails in the all time series 2-12 and coach Kenny Brooks will look to beat the Fighting Irish for only the second time since taking over this Hokies squad.

Virginia Tech Key to the Game: Dominate the fourth quarter

A large factor that has fueled this Virginia Tech losing streak has been an inability to close out games. In each of their past two losses, the Hokies blew double digit leads and couldn’t do enough in the fourth quarter to ensure a victory. When Virginia Tech faced off against Notre Dame earlier this season, the Fighting Irish outscored them by five in the final quarter as the Hokies defense couldn’t buy a stop late. For a team with few glaring weaknesses, this inability to put away teams has plagued the Hokies for much of the season and must stop if they want to get back in the win column.

Notre Dame Key to the Game: Continue its balanced scoring attack

Over the last several games, the Fighting Irish have shown how dangerous they can be when they get scoring from beyond just their star players. Notre Dame is a talented team with plenty of depth which has made it hard for opponents to slow them down on offense. In its most recent win, Notre Dame had four players hit double figures including 20 points off the bench from Destinee Walker. Facing a defense that has a tendency to give up points in bursts, the Irish will need to continue to receive this kind of production to pull out a win.

Virginia Tech Player to Watch: Aisha Sheppard

While Kitley has been a superstar all year for the Hokies, senior guard Aisha Sheppard has been just as important. Currently leading the nation in three-pointers, Sheppard is having another great year but has played a bit inconsistent as of late. In the Hokies’ loss to Wake Forest, Sheppard shot just two of ten from beyond the arc and 33% from the field in total. They’ll need Sheppard at her best tonight to knock off Notre Dame.

Notre Dame Player to Watch: Maddy Westbeld

For the Irish, the emergence of Westbeld has been one of the biggest parts of their success this season. The true freshman has been an absolute beast for Notre Dame as she leads the team in both scoring and rebounding while also dominating on the defensive side of the ball with 20 steals on the year. Coming off a win where she scored just 13 points, Westbeld will look to reignite her dominant season against Virginia Tech.

Score Prediction: Notre Dame 75, Virginia Tech 70

Despite both sitting at 7-5, these two teams could not be trending in much different directions coming into this contest. While Virginia Tech has displayed a habit of blowing late leads and losing extremely close games, Notre Dame has demonstrated an ability to stay in nearly every contest behind a deep squad of talented players.

This should also be a difficult matchup for the Hokies as despite having a dominant offense this season behind the duo of Sheppard and Kitley, their defense has been lackluster in several games recently. Facing a Notre Dame team that put up 83 points on 61% shooting last game, this is a spot that the Irish should clearly take advantage of. This should be another close matchup similar to their first meeting this season, but once again Notre Dame will make a few more clutch plays down the stretch as they pull away in the fourth quarter, 75-70.