Aisha Sheppard clenched her first, stretched her arm into the air and high-fived her teammates as she drew a shooting foul against Boston College’s Dontavia Waggoner. The producer of a 3-pointer on the possession before, Sheppard drove into the paint, looking to extend Virginia Tech’s lead that had been trimmed to eight with four minutes left in the second quarter.
The Hokies weren’t shooting well at that point — saved by the Eagles’ physical play that allowed them to get to the free throw line with ease — and it looked like it would be another one of the “fight ‘em off, grind it out” wins.
It was a similar story to the younger version of this team the Hokies ran out a year ago. An early lead built on the back of poor shooting, eventually leading to a close loss with a second half collapse.
But this is the Virginia Tech of new. Not old. A more mature team that — while at times can blow the big lead it built — has the age to avoid pressing and plays solid defense down the stretch, as described by point guard Georgia Amoore
And Sheppard knows that. The Hokies’ shooting guard stepped up to the line, dribbled the ball once on both of her shots before knocking them down. Her trip to the line gave Virginia Tech a 30-20 lead, and the Hokies never looked back.
Virginia Tech outscored Boston College 55-42 the rest of the way on Sunday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies (16-6, 8-3 ACC) got to the line 33 times while knocking down 31 of the attempts — a program record in an ACC contest — en route to an 85-62 win over the Eagles (15-8, 6-6 ACC).
“In the grand scheme of everything, we’re 8-3 in conference play with only three games [at home], ” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said. “We haven’t been as smooth as I would like, but to give credit, we’re one of those teams that people have to really gameplan for.”
Sunday marked Tech’s first appearance at home in 17 days. Since then, the Hokies traveled to NC State, Virginia and Notre Dame. Now, they come home to play four games in eight days without having to hop on a plane.
“I love traveling,” Brooks said, “but I’m glad we’re home for a while.”
This season is Virginia Tech’s best start through 11 games in ACC play since it made the jump in 2004, including the three-straight years Hokies made the NCAA Tournament from 2004-06.
Which is even more impressive when looking at the team’s schedule. Seven of the Hokies’ 11 conference games have been on the road.
But even as the memories of coughing up leads last season and the season before stick out in the minds of the Hokies, they’ve found ways to piece together and grind out wins. And showing on Sunday that, even if they aren’t shooting well from the field, they have the ability to blow other teams out.
Elizabeth Kitley got to the free throw line 12 times, converting 11 of them. Coming off her injury against Virginia on Jan. 27, Kitley played against Notre Dame on Thursday but only shot 3-of-10.
On Sunday, Kitley dropped 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting and said it was “as close to 100%” as she’s felt since her injury. She also added 15 rebounds, good for her 11th double-double of the season.
“I felt really good today,” Kitley said. “A lot better than Thursday. I didn’t practice much [before last Thursday]. I got a lot more time to practice leading up to today.”
At the crux of Virginia Tech’s success this season has been hot shooting and team chemistry. At the center of that: Kitley. The offense flows through her and she draws double teams, combined with her ability to get to the rim.
“Liz Kitley is the best player in the league,” Brooks said. “I don’t care what anybody says, I don’t care what the ACC Network analysts say. The numbers that she [puts up], they’re with two people guarding her all the time. I don’t see anyone else getting double-teamed like she gets double-teamed.”
For the rest of the team on Sunday, all five of Tech’s starters recorded at least eight points. Amoore and Sheppard added 14 and 12, respectively.
In the first half, the Hokies shot 33.3%, but halftime adjustments allowed them to shoot 59.2% in the latter half, big thanks to Kitley.
She only scored eight points on 2-of-5 shooting in the first half. But in the second, she recorded 22 of her 27 points. Tech’s offense, too, took off, coming two points shy of 50.
As Kitley goes, so does the rest of her team. As long as she’s successfully breaking through double teams, Virginia Tech won’t have trouble making its deep March run.
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The women’s hoops uniforms are as ugly as any uniform I have ever seen. How does stuff like this get selected/approved? If you want to build brand awareness, have the name of your school legible at a glance. Looks like they are having a sleepover and they all drew VT on their shirts.
Extraordinary and eye opening piece. I gained intense new knowledge and a profound understand of Virginia Tech women’s basketball.