No. 17 Virginia Tech cruises past Virginia, 76-63
Nathan Andrews
Staff Writer
February 1, 2024
Kenny Brooks and Virginia Tech have now won five straight over Virginia. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG – The Commonwealth Clash made its way to Cassell Coliseum on Thursday. It’s safe to say the trophy is staying in that very building.
The stage was set. With Cassell being nearly sold-out, the fans were roaring. Virginia Tech, on a three-game winning streak, was facing a Virginia team that has struggled, but against an extremely strong schedule thus far.
“Just a really good team, an up-and-coming team,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said when referring to UVa. “Their record might be 2-7 coming into the game, but you also have to look at who they play. They played Carolina twice, they played NC State twice, they played Notre Dame; they played a really tough schedule, so they’re gonna win a lot of basketball games.”
The No. 17 Hokies (17-4, 8-2 ACC) took down the Wahoos (10-11, 2-8), cruising past them by 13 points. Backed by double-doubles by star players Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore, the Hokies were almost unstoppable during the second half.
The tandem of Kitley and Amoore has been a staple of this Tech team for quite some time. Amoore, who tallied 14 dimes along with 20 points, was just as effective as Kitley in Brooks’ eyes.
“I don’t know which one [performance] was more impressive, 20 points and 14 assists or 33 points and 18 rebounds,” he said. “You guys put that on a poll.”
Like most games, however, Kitley was the problem that the Cavalier defense couldn’t quite solve. She stuffed the stat line, shooting 15-of-25 from the field registering 33 points, 18 rebounds (six of which were offensive) and three blocks. She was on fire from the post and worked the mid-range to perfection.
“When you write your articles, please put some exclamation points in there,” Brooks said. “Just don’t get bored with a 33-point and 18-rebound performance. Let that sink in: 33 points and 18 rebounds.”
The first quarter started off hot for both squads. While Kitley got some of her shots up then,
Matilda Ekh was arguably the highlight of the early first half. She drained two threes in the first quarter, then swooshed another to start the second quarter.
However, UVa was competing ferociously in the first half. Its strong suit was getting to the foul line throughout the game. The Cavaliers shot 21 free throws compared to Tech’s seven during the contest.
The star of the show that kept things interesting for the ‘Hoos was guard Kymora Johnson. She went 4-of-7 from deep, bucketing her way to 22 points. In the first quarter, she accounted for 12 of her squad’s 18 total points.
By halftime, though, the Hokies had 10 scorers in double-digits. Kitley had 20, Amoore had 10, and Ekh had 11. The only other bucket grabber was Carys Baker, who tallied a three and another quick two. That left the Hokies with only four players that had points going into the second half.
The crowd was hyped up for the second half, and the Hokies surely didn’t disappoint. The third quarter was the surefire turning point of the game, as the Hokies outscored the Cavaliers 17-5 during a tough Tech defensive stand.
One highlight of its defense in the third quarter was their ability to swat shots. Tech recorded five of its seven total blocked shots in the third quarter, with Kitley and Olivia Summiel having two a piece, along with Ekh contributing one. The team also registered two of its three steals during the third, too.
“I think we were a little bit better connected,” Kitley said. “They were going downhill a lot on us, but I was able to help more, and I had some good block in the second half. I think we were able to come out and be more aggressive and we rattled them.”
However, the ‘Hoos didn’t back off because of the 19-point lead they faced at one point. Throughout the second half, especially during the fourth, they started pressing the Hokies and executing an excellent trap defense when Amoore would take the ball up the court. They managed to find ways out of it, but this was a hardship faced by the Hokies late in the game.
“It kind of got them out of rhythm a little bit,” Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “But Georgia, she’s hard to trap. She’s very smart. She’s very experienced. She would bait us into a trap a little bit and find the open person. We did get a couple of deflections and it gave us a little bit of energy, but I thought honestly, she did a good job of breaking it.”
Despite outscoring the Hokies 17-13 in the fourth, the damage had been done. The Hokies pulled out their 17th dub of the season. On top of that, the Cavaliers missed two consecutive free throws, resulting in free biscuits and bacon for fans in attendance.
The Hokies will ride their four-game winning streak to Chapel Hill to face No. 24 North Carolina (15-7, 7-3 ACC), whom they will play twice in their next six games.
The Cavaliers will look to right the ship, travelling home to Charlottesville to take on Clemson (10-12, 3-7 ACC) after a hard-fought loss.
“The crowd was phenomenal,” Brooks said. “Sell-out crowd, no promotion; it was just a good game. Everybody wanted to come out. It’s fun when you can win, and you can beat a good team like UVa and give people what they want: biscuits and bacon. So, pretty good breakfast sandwich tomorrow.”