Hokies' Season Comes To An End In 75-72 Loss To Baylor

Bradley Winterling

Staff Writer

March 25, 2024

Virginia Tech's season came to an end in the loss to Baylor. (Virginia Tech Athletics)

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech’s once magical season came to an end Sunday night, falling to Baylor in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. The No. 4 seed Hokies couldn’t find a way to close it out against the No. 5 seed Bears, losing a heartbreaker, 75-72.  

Cassell Coliseum was rocking all night. It was another sold-out crowd for Tech, and this one was intense within seconds of the tip.  

“I think Cassell is just amazing,” center Clara Strack said. “The fans that we have that show up every game no matter who we're playing is just so special to have here and to have them behind us all the time.” 

The Bears got it going early. They jumped out to an 11-6 lead over the Hokies, until Strack began to take over.  

The freshman got two and-one’s to go in the first quarter. She finished with 18 points, shooting 6-of-8 and knocking down six free throws.  

“I would say that I definitely gained a lot of confidence throughout the season,” Strack said. “That's going to happen as you play no matter what, but I think knowing that I had to gain that level of confidence, knowing I had to play who I am and be who I am out there, I think that's what really just pushed me over to have that confidence.” 

At the end of one, Baylor led Tech 21-18. Tech struggled to shoot the basketball in the first, going 0-of-6 from downtown.  

The second quarter provided a scoring drought for both squads. There were just 23 points combined in the period. The Hokies only made four shots. Georgia Amoore hit a three and a mid-range. The other two scores were a Cayla King three and a Carleigh Wenzel jumper.  

After shooting a combined 2-of-16 from deep and 11-of-32 from the field in the first half, Tech found itself down by six at halftime, with the Bears leading 34-28.  

“If you ask [Baylor head coach] Nicki [Collen], she'll say it's her defense,” Tech head coach Brooks said. “If you ask me, I'll say we missed shots. … I thought we got some good looks. We just didn't knock some of them down. That's this time of the year. You have to make shots.” 

Amoore and Brooks always talk about coming out hot in the third quarter. They call it the “third quarter blitz.” The Hokies did just that, as they got it back to a tie game midway through the period after being down six at the break.  

A large part of Tech’s success in the third was because of Matilda Ekh. After being held scoreless for three consecutive games, Ekh came into the NCAA Tournament with a vengeance.  

The Michigan State transfer ended up scoring 16 points in the second half Sunday night, finishing the game with 19 points and six rebounds, shooting 7-of-12 from the field while knocking down four triples.  

“She has a heart of a lion,” Brooks said. “She comes out, and she hurt. She hurt bad where she had those three straight games where she didn't score. She asked me, could we meet?  

“It was so funny because I don't even know what we talked about, but it was just being in the presence, and she knew that I trusted her, and she came out, and she had a different look in her eye because she wants to help the team win. I thought she played exceptionally well this weekend, and I'm very proud of her. I'm very happy for her to be able to experience this.” 

Despite a scoring explosion early in the third for Tech, Baylor still led 55-52 going into the fourth.  

The teams traded baskets for the entirety of the final quarter.  

At the media timeout with 4:48 to play in the game, the Bears led the Hokies, 64-62.  

Both teams went back and forth from there, with Jada Walker, who finished with 28 points for the Bears, knocking down jumpers while Amoore and King hit some clutch shots of their own.  

With 1:25 to play, Walker hit another shot to give Baylor a three-point lead.  

After a couple of scoreless possessions from both teams, Amoore missed a jumper with 24 seconds left, only for Strack to grab the offensive board and make a layup to get it back to a one-point game.  

Walker then hit another jumpshot and knocked down a free throw to put Baylor up 73-69 with 19 seconds left.  

Down four, the Hokies were in a tough spot. Amoore knocked down a three fading away to her left that made it a one-point game with 16 seconds left in regulation.  

“It's March,” Amoore said. “Anything can happen. There's still plenty of time. There's still the ability to hit shots. We've seen it all the time. I think – yeah, I don't think any of us were thinking negatively or anything like that.” 

Unfortunately for the Hokies, they were unable to find the bottom of the net again.

Walker was able to run around and chew clock, getting fouled with just five seconds to play. She knocked down both free throws to give Baylor a three-point lead. 

“We tried to switch the matchup so that [Tech forward] Olivia [Summiel] would not be the one that was chasing her, but ironically it was so loud in there they couldn't hear me,” Brooks said. “She was able to take a lot of time off the clock. I think it took it to 5.9.” 

Amoore got fouled taking the ball up the court with 1.3 seconds left, and on the Tech inbounds, they were unable to get a shot off.  

“I couldn't tell if the ball was tipped or not, but I think we would have gotten a good look, but we just couldn't deliver,” Brooks said. “We couldn't execute the play because I think the inbounder was big on Carleigh. I thought we had a good look. We were going for Tilly to shoot a three, and we just didn't execute it.” 

For Amoore, it’s unknown whether she will come back for a fifth season or not, but regardless, she will always be one of the best players in Virginia Tech’s history.  

She finished the night with 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting, knocking down a couple of massive threes at the end like she always does.  

“I've had a time,” Amoore said. “I came here, and I was not good, couldn't shoot, probably a little too overweight, probably too slow, had too much fun, had to get reeled in. But I got here, and it was the perfect place for me to settle in and kind of not control myself, but lock in on basketball. 

“... I came here, and I trusted coach Brooks 100 percent even when I didn't trust in myself. It's paid off immensely. I couldn't be more grateful for our time together. I think being a foreigner, I come over to America, and America is fun, but Blacksburg is the place where I've developed, and it's kind of like my home away from home.  

“I couldn't be more appreciative of how it's transformed me as not only a basketball player, but a person, and it's because I surrounded myself with great people. … I didn't know at that time how it would play out, but I took the chance, and I'm very, very grateful that I did because I've got him for life now. I've loved it, and I couldn't be more grateful.” 

After going undefeated at Cassell, going on a 10-game win streak, and seemingly working their way to earning a No. 1 seed in March, the devastating injury to Elizabeth Kitley was too much to overcome for Tech.  

“I know injuries are a part of it, but I promise you if it weren’t for Liz going down, I thought we were poised to make another run,” Brooks said. “We were on a stretch. We won 10-straight ACC games and we had a bad game at Notre Dame.  

“But we were ACC regular-season champions with a chance to regroup and go into the tournament, and Liz’s unfortunate situation just kind of derailed us a little bit. We had to try to reinvent ourselves, but it’s a part of it. But these kids are special and I’ll always remember the ride that they took us all on.”