No. 15 Hokies Trounce Radford, 85-40
Duncan Irvine
Staff Writer
December 10, 2023
Liz Kitley shined again in Virginia Tech's win over Radford. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG – Liz Kitley plowed through the two defenders guarding her just to run into two more waiting for her on the other side of the paint. They proved to be no problem for her, and she got the tough shot to fall.
She was fouled on her shot attempt and cashed the and-one to extend the Hokie lead to 39. Her bucket came right in the middle of a 16-point run to open the third quarter and was emblematic of the dominance Virginia Tech displayed all afternoon.
On an otherwise sleepy Sunday afternoon, the No. 15 Hokies (7-2) bludgeoned Radford (2-8) 85-40 inside Cassell Coliseum.
Tech dominated the first quarter and never looked back. It won the first frame 22-4, and even that massive edge does not accurately reflect how dominant they were.
It didn’t hurt that Radford got off to a sloppy start. The Highlanders missed their first seven shots before finally getting one to fall with just over four minutes left in the first quarter and couldn’t seem to find any rhythm offensively.
The Hokies capitalized. Kitley did what she does best and dominated in the paint, scoring eight of the team's first 11 points. Overall, the team shot 10-of-20 from the field.
The second quarter went much better for the Highlanders, who more than tripled their first quarter scoring, putting up 18 points. They also got to the charity stripe with a bit more consistency.
Still, Taniya Hanner was the only Radford starter to score in the first half, and even then she only dropped a single bucket.
Ashlyn Traylor-Walker dropped 10 first half points coming off the bench. She came into the game knowing that a victory would be challenging, but she was focused on improving her game.
“It’s definitely different playing against this high level of competition,” Traylor-Walker said. “I was going into it as this game is going to make me better. I get to play against one of the top teams. We’re just going in thinking we’re going to play as hard as we can.”
Defensively, Radford did a better job limiting Kitley's scoring, but it couldn’t stop her from cleaning up the boards. She finished the first half with nine rebounds.
Overall, the Tech offense came back down to earth ever so slightly, and it shot 43.8% from the field in the second.
The Hokies led 48-22 at the half and didn’t let off the gas in the third quarter, opening with a 16-point run to push the lead to 45.
“We just really emphasize coming out hard and strong and bringing the energy,” Tech guard Georgia Amoore said. “Obviously, it's important to bring the energy every game. … We knew we had to bring our own energy and create it.”
Radford had no other choice but to pick its poison defensively. As Amoore cooled off from her second-quarter performance, Kitley heated back up again.
The Highlanders picked up their first points of the quarter with 2:06 to play thanks to free throws.
In fact, all four of their third quarter points came off free throws. They missed all 15 of their field goal attempts.
Having such a large lead afforded the Hokies the ability to give some run to players who usually don’t get much playing time.
Nine of the 10 Tech players who played scored, with four finishing in double figures.
Kitley finished the afternoon with a double-double, leading the team with 16 points and nabbing 13 boards. Radford head coach Mike McGuire had nothing but praise for the reigning ACC Player of the Year.
“She’s elite. I mean, she’s fantastic,” McGuire said. “ I know she’s great, and she’s an All-American. I don’t think people give her enough credit for how good she really is.”
Traylor-Walker led Radford in scoring with 16 points. In total, only five Highlanders scored at all, and Traylor-Walker was the only one to reach double digits.
Radford drops to 2-8 on the season. The Highlanders’ next game is against Liberty on Tuesday.
The Hokies move to 7-2 on the year and will be back in action next Sunday when they travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers.