In front of an announced crowd of 13,007 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., the Indiana Hoosiers outscored Virginia Tech 22-13 in the fourth quarter to win the WNIT championship, 65-57.
Trailing most of the game, the Hokies outscored Indiana 17-7 in the third quarter to turn a halftime deficit into a 44-43 lead entering the fourth quarter. But the Hoosiers, who were 0-of-13 from three-point range to that point, made two three-pointers to key a 14-4 run to open the quarter. After a layup with 3:46 to go, Indiana led 57-48 and cruised to the win.
Virginia Tech’s Taylor Emery led all scorers with 23 points, outplaying Indiana star Tyra Buss (16 points). Emery hit nine of her 18 shots, while Buss only made six of 21.
The Hokies were undone by turnovers, committing 17 to just seven for Indiana. The Hoosiers outscored the Hokies 20-8 in points off turnovers and 42-20 in the paint. Indiana shot 41 percent from the field for the game, and the Hokies shot just 35.1 percent. While Emery shot well, the other Hokies made just 11-of-39 (28.2 percent).
The loss also spoiled a dominant outing on the boards from Virginia Tech’s Regan Magarity, who pulled down 15 rebounds to lead Virginia Tech’s 40-33 rebounding edge for the game. In the process, Magarity, a redshirt junior, became Virginia Tech’s all-time leading rebounder with 864 (passing Tere Williams, who had 855).
Trailing 36-27 at the half, the Hokies shot 6-of-13 in the third, including 3-of-6 from three-point range to take a promising 44-43 lead. Indiana was just 3-of-14 in the quarter, including 0-of-5 from three, and the Hokies had all the momentum. But Indiana outshot Tech 53.8 percent to 26.7 percent in the final quarter, and the Hokies succumbed.
The loss leaves Virginia Tech at 23-14 on the season, the most wins since they went 23-8 in 2003-04 under coach Bonnie Henrickson. Hokies head coach Kenny Brooks is 43-28 in two seasons at Virginia Tech, and every Hokie who played this season has eligibility remaining.
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Great year. Very proud! Exceeded all expectations.
Great season ladies!!! Look forward to next year.
Go Hokies! Nothing but pure pleasure watching the girls(young ladies) play their hearts out! Very, very proud of them and their effort. Great job by the coaches and staff!
I do agree that there should be a neutral court for the championship.
This game should have been played on a nuetral court! I don’t really care what anyone says! You earn the right to be in the championship game, it should not be decided on your opponents home court! Congrats coach Brooks and team on a solid year!
They will be very, very good next year if they keep playing the tough defense that they did in the tournament.
The Girls played hard in this NIT Tournament , No shame there for them. Too Much up the middle in points for Indiana . I hope this gets them ready for next Fall. Lot to be proud of…
Nice touch, it’s hard to get too excited for being the runner-up in the runner-up tournament but then there’s something to be said for still being out there playing when (almost) every other college basketball team in the country has packed up and gone home. They had caught a little rhythm and were playing well, it meant a lot more to VT than just playing “more games.” And though the lead sentence was not about VT, 13,007 fans watched. Think about that.
Any hope Chanette will be back?
I was there (I live less than an hour away) and the atmosphere was electric! Sadly though, I didn’t see *any* other Hokies in the stands.
That’s a tough get! Maybe soon when I’m retired I’ll be able to snag a trip on a few days notice. Even living there sounds like it might be a tough ticket, have to pay attention when they go on sale.
They should be very good next year!
Any National Championship game should be played on a neutral court.Nuff said!