Virgina Tech Hokies Women’s Basketball Runs Past Towson: 100-56

It was a bit of a slow start for the first five minutes, but the slow pull away became a steady pile of points by a broad range of Lady Hokies. There were lots of folks in the organization who were new to Cassell Coliseum and the crowd. It’s going to be interesting to see this team grow together. The big news is that the new team has their first win in the bucket, and it was a big one.

Getting Back on the Floor

There are lots of things in practice that you can point to that are pretty difficult. Practice isn’t one of the big joys of playing sports. Conditioning becomes a bore. Playing against the practice team of former high school players might be fun, but it’s the same crew all the time.

November 4th finally came, the pregame warmup/shoot around got going, and the sight of a real crowd beginning to take their seats in Cassell began to change the energy level and maybe the reality finally dawned on players, coaches, and assistants. (On a personal note, it was fun to pull out the lighter equipment and get set up for the court – it’s a very different style of photography.)

The court certainly looked a bit different. There were some much needed floor repairs done behind the North side goal, and there was fresh paint in brighter tones added. Certainly, the light levels had changed. It just felt new, and clean, and ready to start.

It was hard to see Kate Sears on a knee scooter with a foot all bandaged up. She is going to be a really important part of Coach Megan Duffy’s growth plan. She’ll rehab and keep working. We’ll see her on the court next season. It was very good to see her with the team, though. The other health update is that Samyha Suffren is all the way back she had a great game and seems to have gotten over that shoulder injury.

Now to the Game!

There might have been a few butterflies and a bit of game level rust to knock off, because the Lady Hokies took to the floor against a Towson team that they were expected to win against, and had a bit of a slow start. Maybe it was a touch of the jitters or nerves but as some of the nerves began to fade, and the rust got knocked off. The close game at the half of a quarter media break, sprung into a steady pull away event.

First Quarter Jitters

The first quarter sets the tone in many cases. It’s not a predicter of the final score, but it’s an indicator of how well the team is going to handle the pressure of the game and the confidence the coaching staff has with getting the bench involved. Virginia Tech’s starting lineup for 2025-2026 was a bit different, with new faces mixed in with old ones, and a surprise start for Mackie Nelson.

Mackie was joined by her backcourt co-point guard teammate Carleigh Wenzel, and Carys Baker in the forecourt (Forward and Post). The two new faces were transfers Mel Daley playing what seemed to be that hybrid wing position, and Kilah Freelon taking the post and jump position for the opening.

Even with some returners and experienced transfers, every team has a sort of shake out the butterflies period when the newness of the team relationship in a game situation becomes reality. Tech managed to take control of the floor pretty quickly, with a tip-off win and opening scoring attempt, but there was that over pumped adrenaline shot that foiled getting good position and focus so the lid was on the basket. The first four minutes was a back and forth with each shot and exchange seeming to loosen up the Hokies.

The good news in all of that tip-off win was that Tech broke the scoring ice early enough to keep things close until the jitters evaporated. Kilah Freelon followed up her tip win with a powerful move inside and an opening bucket from the paint with an assist from Mel Daley. The new Hokies showed up big in this one.

Kilah would score again, as Tech and Towson both battled for who was going to find a control point to widen the lead that kept exchanging. Carleigh dropped in 2 at the 9:02 mark, to push the Hokie lead out a bit to 6-3, but that didn’t last long. Towson scored two and then Mel Daley got her first points of the evening on two free-throws. But a short dry spell let Towson pass the Hokies 9-8, and at the 7:41 point, Coach Duffy made her first substitution to change things up a bit and ooh did things change. Samyha Suffren finally got back on the game floor after having to sit out the entire remainder of last season after her injury. It took her a few minutes to get her chops back, and in the meantime, Mel Daley stepped up to keep Tech from getting passed by more than one point in an exchange churn.

The Hokies, with some more speed threat on the floor, when Mackie and Samyha are on the floor together there are some serious afterburners lit. Tech finally passed the Lady Tigers with 6:53 left on the clock for the quarter. After a bit of a shooting dryspell for each team, Samyha made one of her power-speed moves to the basket and dropped in a nice layup to open her scoring for the season. Just before the media timeout, Suffren would again drop a layup into the basket to push the score out to 16-11 and you could see some gears begin to mesh for the Hokies.

It looked pretty dry for both teams after the media break, though. It took Tech almost 3 minutes before Freelon broke the lid on the bucket. Mackie finally found the bucket from the floor, and Kilah closed out Tech’s scoring for the quarter with another 2-pointer. The horn sounded with Tech getting their footing and beginning to pull away: 22-13. What began to shape up was something that the Hokies struggled with a bit last season, and Coach Duffy said was an emphasis over the offseason – defense. The Lady Hokies held the Tigers to 2 points in the final 4:40 of the period. That’s definitely encouraging.

The 2nd Quarter Build

At this point we might want to set the stage for the quarter, before pushing on. Kayl Petersen was subbed in at 4:54 of the first quarter. Kayl was one of those really good freshmen that came to Tech from Coach Duffy’s recruiting chain. With last season’s lack of bench depth, and the loss of Samyha, Kayl was pushed into an increasingly important bench role with the Hokies. Petersen didn’t score anything in the 1st, but there wasn’t a clear impression that she had missed a step from her steady improvement as 2024-2025 closed. Looking at the action through a camera lens is a bit limiting, but Kayl kept showing up in defense and in the forecourt. There was just that feeling that eventually she was going to break the ice.

Well, the 2nd quarter really crashed to a start for Kayl, and our new shooting Guard Sophie Swanson got the benefit of her presence. Kayl pushed out an assist to Sophie so our Purdue transfer dropped in a nice midrange shot to score her first points as a Hokie. Then Kayl worked herself into position draw a foul and scored her first two for the season from the charity stripe.

While the Hokies were working out their offensive issues, the defense was certainly clicking. Towson didn’t manage to score until nearly 2 minutes had passed on the clock. Mackie scored one from the charity stripe she had two shots awarded and she really looked frustrated with herself for missing. She needs to see Carleigh about what she did to fix her free-throw shooting because Wenzel has gotten flat dangerous to foul. Swanson quickly followed that with a three-pointer, and Towson called a timeout.

Sometimes a “run” is more like a steady relentless pull. This game had several of those stretches. The Lady Hokies just kept pushing the exchange, adding two here, and there until they’d built up a 30-17 lead, and Towson’s coach new it was time to pull Tigers in and talk it over. That timeout didn’t help Towson all that much, but it really seemed to put a lid on the basket for the Hokies.

Both teams had a pretty furious back and forth with a pile of substitutions, but nothing really dropped for almost a minute after the T/O. Towson finally broke the ice with two free-throws, but the boost didn’t help much when Kayl Petersen dropped in her first field goal with a layup. Leila Wells, who was subbed in for Carleigh during the dry spell, followed that with her own layup, and Kayl dropped another two in from the charity stripe. Kayl showed up much taller than her 6-feet and proved her inside chops. She missed a layup in deep, hit the floor grabbed her own rebound, and put the ball back up with a hook shot from nowhere to score 2 on her own putback. Coaches and players remember that sort of effort.

Petersen’s putback hook was the last field goal for Tech for the half, but Carleigh and Mel Daley added free-throws and the halftime horn blared with Tech not so comfortably in the lead 41-30, but given Tech’s defensive effort, Towson just didn’t look like they were going to close that gap.

The 3rd Quarter was Just a Hokie Tractor Pull

There were some real smiles on the faces of the Hokies as they streamed out of the locker room and back on to the south end of the Carilion Clinic Court. It almost felt like they were sure that Tech was firmly in control, but they had work to do to get somewhere.

Mel Daley started the scoring with a quick layup with all of 16 seconds gone in the quarter. But the Tech offense stalled out again for about a minute and a half, and Kilah Freelon laid one in to get the Hokies going again. The field goals dried up again, but Freelon and Carys Baker kept the Hokies scoring going with three made free-throws. Carys finally knocked the lid off the bucket with a layup that was more underneath effort than just writing about it shows. Her fellow Nutmeg state high school basketball star Mackie provided the assist.

Towson was flat stalled out until the clock ticked 11 seconds past seven minutes. They dropped in a single free-throw to get past 30 points. But Carleigh dropped in a layup to put in 2 and was fouled on the play and made the bucket for an old fashioned 3-point play. Carleigh would do exactly that again a minute or so later.

Maybe those 3-pointers the hard way, ignited something in Kayl Petersen because she found the range from downtown and dropped in 2 treys in a row. Then Kayl assisted Carleigh in another layup. Wenzel said that she was working on that inside game, and if she keeps this up, she’ll have to re-teach herself how to hit from outside. So, Kayl answered the challenge by doing her own impression of Carleigh. She dropped in a layup and drew a foul for her own 3-point play.

Carys hadn’t gone away, she got into foul trouble in the 1st half, so Coach Duffy took advantage of the situation and kept her out of trouble for the critical 3rd quarter. Carys was pushing tough defense all game, so her pressure was critical in the 3rd. Baker dropped in her own hook shot and set herself up for a rest on the bench. Coach Duffy subbed in Amani Jenkins who promptly scored her first collegiate points by grabbing her own missed shot rebound and scoring on the put back.

As the quarter ticked away Mackie looked like she’d solved her free throw issue and after being fouled, dropped in two from the stripe. She looked relieved after she scored the 2nd one but she’d get a bit more of a boost because with 75 seconds left on the 3rd period clock… Mackie Nelson became the first Bojangles Biscuit Scorer of the season by making a nice move through the basket and dropping the ball through the net for that magic 75 points.

The period ended on that note, and it wasn’t readily apparent that the crowd realized that the Hokies had reached that score in only three periods. There were some check backs though because the possibility really existed for the Hokies to break 100 points for their first outing of the season.

The 4th Quarter and the Bench Empties

We won’t go into the details on this one, Kila Freelon scored the first two points for the quarter. Tech let up a bit on the defensive choke hold, but the feature of this quarter was watching the Hokies get a full quarter of basketball bench time. Kilah and Carys made a few more buckets. Carleigh kept dropping foul shots into the bucket and over the bulk of the period Coach Duffy continued to pull her starters. Samyha Suffren finished the game at point guard and paired up with Leila Wells in the backcourt managed to score most of the remaining points for the Lady Hokies. There was a bit of an exception, though. with 2:19 on the clock Spela Brecelj (the Hokies’ new freshman from Slovenia) played the final two minutes of the game for her first time on a US collegiate court. She didn’t score but she made her presence known and the crowd responded.

The final horn sounded with Tech in possession and the clock zipped down to 0.0. When everyone looked up, the Hokies had made the century mark. There will definitely be things the coaches are going to note, and certainly work on, but scoring 100 points in any game is a rare thing. It was a good start to the season.

Game Statistics

In general, this one is a real thrill to write up because of the steady regulars showing up but above all because of the pleasant surprises. It looks like the Hokies might just be showing up with a 2-deep bench where Coach Duffy can freely substitute and have absolutely no falloff in performance. She’ll be able to rest players, change conditions, and challenge the opposition to deal with 10 starting quality players, not just 5 or 6.

First of all, there were two double-doubles in this one, and no, they aren’t who you’d expect, at all. And you’ll note, that the leading scorer in this game was not Carleigh or Carys. It seems Kayl Petersen has arrived and announced that she’s going to be a force this season.

Kayl Petersen

She came off the bench and struggled with her scoring opportunities in the first quarter. We all know Kayl from her impressive true freshman bench role last season, but there just isn’t more that can be said then what Kayl said on November 4th. She’s here and going to be a major contributor for the Hokies.

Petersen ended up with a double-double (Her first for her collegiate career!!!) off the bench. She scored 17 points which included an ultra-efficient 5 of 7 from the floor. That included a perfect 2-2 from the floor, and another 100% from the charity stripe with 5-5. We already talked about her self-rebound putback points, but ultimately, she ended up with 11 boards. She pushed out 3 assists even though she’s not a point guard. It was her longest time on the floor at nearly 19 minutes.

Kilah Freelon

How do you get a start at a new program in a new venue, and tear it up like Kilah did? Freelon won the tip-off, scored the first points, and just kept up the critical scoring. She ended up with 15 points with 14 from the paint in one form or another plus one free throw. Down underneath Freelon pulled in 11 rebounds. Five of which were critical offensive rebounds that allowed putbacks. That wasn’t the whole picture though, Kilah was pure gold on defense, with the 6 DRBs, she pulled off a steal, and a block. It was a solid debut as a Hokie.

Carleigh Wenzel

No list of double figure scorers for the Hokies is really complete without Carleigh being there. It happened a time or two but not this time. Carleigh checked into the 2025-2026 season with a 100% 6-6 from the charity stripe, and 4 more shots from 2-point range. But scoring is only one thing that Carleigh does. She pushed out 6 assists and she’s a first-rate defender. It looks like she’s honed some of those skills over the offseason, because her defensive line starts off with 3 steals, 5 DRBs, and 2 blocks. What’s more that was at the cost of only 2 personal fouls, so her defensive techniques are really getting formidable.

Samyha Suffren

How good is it to see this name back on the stats board? Samyha came off the bench to get the blood flowing again and get back into the flow of playing ball in games. Well, she certainly did that and then some. Samyha put up 12 points once the rust got knocked off, she put in 6 buckets a big part of which were on fast breaks off of steals or loose ball pickups. Her defense shined with 4 defensive boards and 3 steals.

Mel Daley

Well, another new Hokie shows up big. Daley started the game and made an immediate impression. She ended up with 11 points on 3 field goals and 5 free-throws. Defensively she showed with one of each, DRB, steal, and block. It looks like Coach Duffy has added another impact player and we’ll be seeing more of her name in stats details.

The Rest of the Team is Not to be Dismissed, It’s Just Everyone Else!

Mackie Nelson just doesn’t seem to get much in the way of double figure mentions. She’s perfectly capable of it but just doesn’t shoot enough. Nelson did score 9 points and was the Biscuit Shooter for the game. Mackie also started so that’s interesting. She ended the game with a team high 7 assists which is something expected for a point guard. She also ended up with 6 rebounds (2 ORB, 4 DRB). She’ll just have to work on those free throws because she’d have been in double figures if she’d just hit one more.

Carys Baker almost got to double figures, but Coach Duffy pulled her in favor of getting bench players some minutes on the court. Carys scored 8 points on a mix of field goals and free throws. She shined underneath the basket on both sides of the court, especially on offense with 7 rebounds 4 of which were offensive.

Leila Wells scored 7 points and pushed out an assist. Sophie Swanson scored her first points (5 total on a 3 and a field goal) as a Hokie and we expect her to do more as she gets more minutes. Amani Jenkins made it to the floor in the 4th quarter and scored her first collegiate basket on a feisty inside self-rebound and putback. She also notched a defensive rebound. Aniya Trent got on the floor for a significant 10 and a half minutes. She didn’t score, but notched 5 rebounds, a block, and a steal. As mentioned before Spela Brecelj made her debut for the final 2 minutes of play.

We hope to see more of these names as their stats build, and they settle in to being the new Hokies for 2025-2026.

Wrapping this One Up

The game was more critical than you would think. Yes, it’s non-conference and the opponent wasn’t completely at the same level, it’s important to note that Towson gave the Lady Hokies fits for most of the first half and provided a confidence building challenge. The outcome was a solid three digits on the score board for Tech, and Bojangles was out a pile of free biscuits (happily because they continue the challenge).

The pictures will be posted on the Facebook page and linked here later this evening. They have been selected but still need to be edited and cleaned up.

Sunday the Hokies host Loyola-Maryland. We’ll be there.

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