Women’s Basketball Outlasts Florida in Four-Point Win

BLACKSBURG, Va. — With eight seconds remaining on the clock, sophomore guard Mackenzie Nelson trotted over to the free throw line. Virginia Tech women’s basketball, fresh off a bounce-back victory against Oregon State to close out the Paradise Jam, possessed a three-point advantage and needed Nelson to tack on just one make on her two-try trip to the charity stripe to guarantee the Hokies’ second straight victory.

Her first try? No good. Still a three-point game.

No matter, however. Nelson sank the second, and that was that. Consequently, the Hokies (7-2) narrowly triumphed in their ACC/SEC Challenge matchup with Florida (8-2), slipping by the Gators, 68-64, Thursday evening to advance to 7-2 on the season.

“Just so proud of our team,” said Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy. “I thought our grit, our toughness to finish out the game against a really good and physical Florida team was tremendous. A ton of people contributed. We had an awesome water fight in the locker room after the game, so everybody's feeling good.”

Liv McGill was the star of the show Thursday evening, pacing all scorers with 30 points. Inside the paint, McGill was authoritative, always commanding a body and oftentimes, moving through that body to score. But with that command came miscues. The Hokies forced McGill into 10 turnovers Thursday, almost half of Florida’s 22 total. Tech converted those turnovers into 23 points.

“We tried to put as many bodies around as we could to try and frustrate her, but [McGill’s] also a tremendous passer,” Duffy said. “So, I thought it was a collective effort, whether that was our primary defender on her or a few other people trying to build a wall… We knew we had a tough, tough task to try and slow her down. I guess we did enough to make her take a high volume of shots. So, we'll take it. I'm proud of our effort with it."

Nelson’s free throw put a bow on a contest where the Hokies struggled to pull away for much of the contest. After an emphatic 10-2 start, Virginia Tech stalled for the next four minutes. The Hokies opened a perfect 4-for-4 but managed just one make in their next six attempts over a 2:16 stretch.

Florida, which began 1-for-6, settled into its groove quickly. The Gators hit their next eight shots and missed only once the rest of the quarter — a jumper at the buzzer from McGill that came up short. After one, the teams were even at 19.

Neither team broke away by much, with neither team leading by more than five until Tech assumed a six-point lead at the 5:39 mark of the third frame off a fast-break Carys Baker layup.

Even still, after Florida called time, they once again forced their way back, tallying six straight points to deadlock the game at 47 and shortly after, assuming a 52-49 lead. Entering the final frame, the Gators held a one-point lead. However, Tech quickly knocked back with a layup from forward Carys Baker opening scoring in the fourth quarter.

Though Florida fought its way back, tying the game with 6:04 left, it couldn’t find the extra gear needed to re-seize the victory. In the final 2:30, the Gators sliced the lead to three on a trio of occasions but were forced to foul Nelson with eight seconds. Thus, Nelson stepped to the line, nailing the back end to give the Hokies just enough to cross over the line. Though she was feeling pressure, the guard delivered.

“We’ll definitely have some sort of punishment for missing that free throw,” Nelson remarked.

Baker paced the team with 23 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. During postgame media, Duffy stated that the junior forward had badly ached for a double-double earlier in the campaign. Baker’s 23-point outing came on a 10-for-16 shooting mark; she knocked down all but two of her 10 shots taken inside the arc.

“Obviously moved her around to get some different kinds of shots and she had some really good moments as a leader, as well,” Duffy said. “She was super positive with the team. She was really driven of like, 'We're going to get this win. We're going to get a defensive stop.' And that becomes contagious.”

That effort was complemented by a career night from freshman Aniya Trent, who tallied seven points and five rebounds in almost 16 minutes of action. Prior to Thursday, the true freshman had logged 42 minutes in eight games, tallying three points against Niagara.

“I thought Aniya defensively was really good, just banging inside,” Duffy said. “She's very smart as a freshman. She knows the game plan. and she understands the game really well… The more she gets to play, I think the better she's going to get… For her to step up like she did was awesome.”

Outside the arc, Baker knocked down two of her six shots. Negating her efforts, the remainder of the team shot 1-for-9.

“I didn't even notice it,” Duffy said. “I was so locked into our defense and rebounding and substitution pattern. I know our staff and myself just try and give them confidence. As long as we're taking the correct ones, we'll live and die with it. It was by no means a difference in the game. It was the rebounding. It was slowing down [Liv] McGill. It was sharing the basketball.”

Virginia Tech will stay in Blacksburg for its next contest, which will open its ACC slate. The Hokies square off against Duke on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m ET, with viewing for the contest available on ESPN2. The Blue Devils paced the ACC in the preseason media poll, but have toiled through a sluggish start.

Duke (3-6) enters Sunday’s conference on a four-game skid, having dropped its last three games to top-5 teams – No. 2 South Carolina (83-66), No. 3 UCLA (89-59) and No. 5 LSU. This year, the Blue Devils have been led by sophomore forward, Toby Fournier, who has averaged 15.6 points and 6.1 rebounds in 26 minutes per game this season.