The Lady Hokies sure have the corner of the market on slow starts and fast finishes. It was a one-point half-time lead for the Hokies. Then Carleigh, Sophie, and Leila rained threes on the Lady Deacons. But first! We had to get a bit of a scare going.
Big Change, Short Rest, A Bit Slow on the Start
The Hokies vs. Wake Forest game was moved up to Saturday at 5:00 PM to attempt to avoid the incoming ice storms predicted for North Carolina and Virginia. That meant that the Hokies needed to figure out how to get ready for a game in tournament fashion, on short rest, after an exhausting contest. Thankfully Winston-Salem is not really far from Blacksburg, and the bus trip is much more flexible than re-arranging a charter flight from ROA. Getting home might be an issue, though. The snow started to fall in the southeast around game time, and we’ll see how long it takes for the team transportation to get them safely back to Blacksburg.
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The game was actually streamed on ESPNX for the ACC Network, so tracking the stats and play-by-play could be accompanied by seeing the action delayed a minute or so. What was striking about the whole thing was the tiny crowd in LJVM Coliseum. Even with the weather the crowd at Cassell would have, at least, doubled the 1300 or so folks there. It would have been fun for the crowd that’s for sure.
Biting Nails in the First and Second
The tournament season is a month and a third away, but the Lady Hokies got a taste of playing on short rest with travel time added in to make it even tougher. The thought occurred to more than a few folks that maybe after that tough gritty comeback win over Clemson that Tech might be just a bit gassed. Maybe that was the assumption, and certainly the first half of the game might have looked that way – the Hokies led at the half (by a point). They were playing well, but missing shots and there were more than a few strange officiating decisions, turnovers, fouls, and missed setups that perhaps the fatigue and full day early tip-off played some part in it.
The First Quarter Looked Slow for Both Teams
There was some interesting hope, there, however. The opening score for the Hokies was a nice inside out pass across the arc to Carys Baker at the top of the key, just downtown. There is always something to be said for your chances to win when your opening bid is a trey to grab the lead back.
Of course, there is a friendly and healthy competition of sorts between the upper-class leadership on the floor. So, the next bucket was another shot from downtown put in by Carleigh Wenzel. That’s not the only time the Hokies would put in back-to-back threes, but the first quarter didn’t feature all that much scoring by either side. The Hokies hit one of their infamous dry spells after Leila Wells pushed the score to 8 to 5 over Wake. The Lady Deacs, scored 8 unanswered points over a 2 minute or so stretch. As the clock ticked past 4 minutes Carleigh finally pulled the lid off for the Hokies by putting in a layup. And then both teams lost the range on the bucket for nearly 3 minutes.
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The Hokies managed to get the ball back on a steal from Kayl Petersen and a layup by Leila. Wake closed out the scoring for the quarter, but the score remained a relatively low 12-15 with the Hokies beginning to show some life near the end of the period. They were playing hard, just not hitting their shots.
Things Began to Change for Tech in the 2nd
Tech opened the scoring in the 2nd quarter with a free-throw from Mackie Nelson and then at 9 and a half on the clock, following some turnovers and missed shots, Carys finally got a layup to drop to tie the score at 15 all. Carys followed that up with a trey, and an interesting duel developed between Carys (with some help from Samyha Suffren and Kilah Freelon) that saw Tech fall behind for a few seconds, after Wake tied it at 24. Wake popped a head briefly but then Carys dropped in a bucket from in close to tie the score up at 26. Samyha broke the tie shortly thereafter 26-24, and then it was an exchange chase for the Hokies to keep in front of the Lady Deacs.
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Carleigh and Kilah finished out the final 1:27 with six total points. Wake got within 1 point at the horn (34-33). The Hokies had some good things to build on, but they were really in need of a reset when it came to shooting. Coach Duffy had to get them to relax and take good shots.
The Third Quarter Rules
Well, something always has to break first, and Kilah only hit one of her two free-throws to push the Tech total to 35 during the opening few seconds of the 2nd half. Wake steamed back down the court and dropped in a three to pull one point ahead. That was the last lead that the Lady Deacs managed for the game. With 9:11 on the clock, Carys Baker took a feed beyond the arc and drained it. The Hokies took a 2-point lead, but more importantly ignited a 12-0 run. Mackie scored 2 buckets for 4, Kilah drained two free-throws, and Leila Wells hit from downtown. The Hokies found themselves up 11 points, at 49-38 halfway through the quarter, and Wake was running out of answers as the Hokies just flat out ran.
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Wake would inch up a bit, and then the Hokies would just knuckle down and pull away. The clock ticked down and Wake was just not finding traction, and certainly not finding the bucket enough times to make a difference. The final basket of the game came on a Mackie Nelson fast break that we’d love to see more of in the future.
The 3rd ended on a missed floater by Wake, 57-44. The “Third Quarter Rule” then landed on the court with a thud for the Lady Demon Deacons.
The Rain of Threes in the 4th
What we hadn’t seen a whole lot of during the first three quarters was an abundance of shot attempts from beyond the arc for the Hokies. Tech was 2-5 in the 1st, 1-4 in the 2nd, and 2-5 in the 3rd quarter (about 36% on a relatively low volume of shots). That wasn’t too bad a result, but it doesn’t really give a good indication what happened in the 4th.
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The comfortable lead seemed to make things a bit complacent on the Tech side of the exchange; it took almost two full minutes before they scored. During that mini-drought Wake managed just 2 points so the damage wasn’t too bad, but Tech really needed to get re-started after a solid 3rd. That issue was fixed by Carleigh, who drained a trey and that ignited a scoring run for the Hokies. Wake started scoring too, but they were also missing shots so the Hokies kept picking up 2 points here and 2 there. After 2 buckets (one each from Samyha and Kilah) Carleigh hit from outside, again. Then Carys chimed in with another deep shot. Carleigh dropped in two more from outside.
What’s even more fun about the entire 4th quarter pull away is Sophie Swanson got some court time and walked off with 2 three-pointers as well. As the latter half of the 4th arrived, Coach Duffy was subbing in the back side of the bench. The final two minutes had three Freshmen on the floor. The big finish was the 3-pointer dropped in by Leila Wells, assisted by Spela Brecelj. With that done it was definitely over, and the Hokies stopped trying to score.
The final horn sounded and after all of the dust settled the Hokies had pushed the score to 85-57. They ended up 8-11 from beyond the arc in the 4th. Not only that but their total field goal count for the quarter was 10-19, so the Hokies were cleaning up from downtown and that’s where most of their shots for the quarter were originating. 2-8 from inside isn’t great, but when your team scores 33 the hard way, that inside percentage isn’t too worrisome.
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A Big Stats Section
Overall, this game might be picked to death for records. Carleigh Wenzel was absolutely on fire in the 2nd half. Carys Baker was right behind her and actually scored the most points for the contest. The coach got to empty the bench and get all of her players some critical court time against an ACC opponent. That’s a rare occurrence at this time of the season. The Hokies put four players in double figures for this one, and one was only one missed free-throw below that threshold (Mackie missed her first free-throw shot – didn’t miss anymore though).
Carys Baker
Carys better start getting more press because this was another 20-point game for her. It might have been more, but Coach Duffy pulled her in the final few minutes to get some game time for the new players. Baker had an even 20 points. She was 8-19 from the floor but that contains an excellent 4-7 from three-point range. Baker almost double-doubled with 9 boards (3 ORB, 6 DRB), and 3 assists.
Carleigh Wenzel
Carleigh was having a solid game before the 4th quarter arrived, but there was something different going on. From the start, she was confident, smooth, and getting really good looks from outside. Add to that, she was hitting them at a ferocious pace. Wenzel ended up with 19 points with a blistering hot 5-8 from downtown. She also pushed out a team high 6 assists, she also grabbed 2 boards and 2 steals on defense. It was the tale of two halves for her. The team wins when that tale is a good one.
Leila Wells
Leila started this one and made her position count. She put up 12 points on only 6 total attempts. She also hit both of her free-throws. She also pushed out 4 assists during the game and pulled down two defensive rebounds and stole the ball twice on defense. It was a really good game for Leila who also played nearly 27 minutes of the game.
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Kilah Freelon
Kilah played 30 full minutes and scored 11. She was 3-7 from the floor and 5-6 from the charity stripe. Her big contributions are underneath the basket, too. Freelon had 7 rebounds, a steal, a block, and two assists. There’s no flash there. People aren’t buzzing there are no big media mentions but ask the players how important she is to both the offense and the defense.
Mackie Nelson, Samyha Suffren, Sophie Swanson, and Mel Daley
If Mackie could have just hit that first free throw. She finished the game with 9 points and 5 assists. She also had 2 rebounds and 2 steals on defense. Samyha continues to impress off the bench as a difference maker. She scored 6 with 3 assists. On defense her quick hands plucked out the ball twice. Sophie is finally free of the catwoman protective mask, and it seems to have improved her shooting. She hit two smooth treys from a few steps back from the arc. She also pushed out an assist. Mel dropped in a bucket and grabbed 3 rebounds.
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Everyone who played some minutes contributed something. Kayl Petersen had a block, a steal, and a rebound. Spela Brecelj had 3 boards and an assist. Amani Jenkins had a rebound and a steal. Aniya Trent contributed a rebound.
It was a surprise blowout win. Wake is still rebuilding and trying to find its place this season, but the Hokies weren’t expected to dominate them at home. It was a solid win for the team, and a much-needed ice cream break after the game. Let’s hope everyone gets back to Blacksburg safely as the snow and ice begin to build.
