No. 16 Virginia Tech Beats Boston College For Seventh Consecutive Win

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor

Georgia Amoore and Virginia Tech held off Boston College on Sunday. (Jon Fleming)

No. 16 Virginia Tech weathered a small storm against Boston College on Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg for a 74-63 win, its seventh in a row.

“Any time you can win in this league, it’s a blessing because this league is very hard,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said afterwards. “… I’m very proud of my kids, they did a good job. We didn’t play well. Liz [Kitley] and Georgia [Amoore] played well, shot the ball well. It’s getting to that point in the year where we need Cayla [King] and we need Matilda [Ekh] to step up and knock down shots.

“We felt like they got the opportunities that they wanted, and we see them knock those down in their sleep. And then we’re all adults here, we understand what our goals are, and to get to our goals, everyone’s going to have to step up and do stuff.”

In a physical back-and-forth contest, the Hokies (20-4, 11-2 ACC) didn’t shoot particularly well (40%, 27-of-67) but played through their stars in Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley, who combined for 50 points (18-of-32, 56%), 18 rebounds and 6 assists. Defensively, they relied on their defense to fend off the Eagles (11-15, 3-10).

Kitley and Amoore both scored 20-plus in the same game for the fifth time this season. The former finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds while the latter had a game-high 26 on four 3-pointers. However, the scoring contributions around them were spotty.

Tech was 9-of-33 from behind the arc; four of the makes came from Amoore on seven attempts. The rest of the team was 5-of-26 (19%), the majority of which came from Cayla King and Matilda Ekh. Though they combined for 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists — King had 6, 5 and 2; Ekh posted 9, 6 and 3 — the duo shot 5-of-25 (20%) from long range. That came a few days after they were 8-of-20 at No. 3 NC State.

Cayla King and Matilda Ekh each hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter but were quiet for the majority of the game. (Jon Fleming)

“We got the looks that we wanted,” Brooks said. “We’ve got to step up and knock those down.”

On the interior, Clara Strack had another terrific game with seven points and six rebounds. Olivia Summiel had two points and three assists to go along with her tremendous 11 rebounds. Those two helped the Hokies grab 51 boards and win the battle on the glass by 22.

Over the course of Tech’s seven-game win streak, Summiel and Strack are averaging 8.3 and 4.9 rebounds per game, respectively.

“Olivia did a tremendous job, Clara Strack came in and was phenomenal for us, and she’s added an element for us that we desperately need,” Brooks said. “She makes us very unique. We were scared at the beginning of playing her just because she had to get used to it. We flipped the script. Instead of her having to run around and chase people all day, they have to worry about guarding her when she’s down low, and she’s a phenomenal high-low passer and she’s going to continue to get better.”

Outside of that, it was the Amoore and Kitley show. They were very effective, even with Boston College mixing things up and trapping, playing zone and pressing. The Eagles are known for mucking games up, a plan they executed pretty effectively.

It was an extremely physical game, too, one that saw Kitley draw 12 fouls. She was hit in the head a few times and finished the game with a giant knot on her forehead.

Elizabeth Kitley got knocked in the head multiple times on Sunday. (Jon Fleming)

“The game has to get better, it has to get cleaner,” Brooks said. “You get frustrated when she can come out with a knot on her head like she gets. And nobody does anything. The game was supposed to protect certain areas and we have to enforce that.”

The Hokies kept their composure, however, even when things got a little out of hand, like when Amoore was hit in the head. She said was surprised she was awarded free throws with the way the game was being called. But they didn’t stoop low and buckled down, and the backing of the sold-out Cassell Coliseum crowd — the third of the season — helped.

Defensively, Tech was OK. It made things difficult for the Eagles (41%), who found more of a rhythm in the second half in an extremely choppy game. It had two 15-point scorers in T’yana Todd and Teya Sidberry, plus Andrea Daley’s 11 points, but was never quite able to get over the hump.

Tech led by eight at intermission, 37-29, and pushed the margin to as many as 12 through three quarters, but BC stormed back thanks to a 10-2 run over a span of two-plus minutes and made it a three-point game.

Yet, the Hokies used the crowd and home-court advantage to bump the lead back to nine and push Boston College away for good. Amoore and Kitley combined for 16 of the team’s 22 fourth-quarter points while Ekh and King hit one three each to seal the win.

The victory, along with No. 23 Syracuse’s upset of No. 15 Louisville earlier in the afternoon, keeps the Hokies in first place in the ACC standings and puts them a full game ahead of the Orange in second place (10-3) with five games remaining.

Virginia Tech has a rematch with Duke on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on the ACC Network. The Blue Devils won the first meeting on Jan. 19, 63-46.

“We take it one game at a time, and today, we are very happy,” Brooks said. “We aren’t even worried about what’s going to happen next. … But the beauty is what we tell our kids: ‘You control your own destiny.’ … [If] we take care of business, we are right where we want to be.”

Box Score: No. 16 Virginia Tech 74, Boston College 63

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14 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. I hope the officials clean up the game against Duke. They were particularly physical against Liz. The play that gave Liz the bump on her head in the BC game should have been a flagrant foul. The officials should have, at a minimum, reviewed that play.

  4. i dont know why they went away from
    the high low with kitley/strack; they simply could
    not stop that.

  5. David C.: thanks for the good recap. FYI. In the 4th paragraph you typed our ACC record as 11-3. Should be 11-2. Thx

  7. The Hokies are a very good basketball team, and a decent rollerball team (what they were forced to play today). Without Soule and Traylor there is no real enforcer on this squad and they needed one today. I understand CKB’s frustration with the way the game is officiated, but until the NCAA does what the NBA did and start calling fouls to reduce the contact he is going to have to teach the ladies how to use their shoulders and lower body to protect the ball and keep aggressive defenders from hacking at the ball. I feel sorry for Kitley, I hope she doesn’t regret coming back for another year of battering. On to Duke which will also be a MMA event – so it goes.

    1. Later today I will be calling Debbie Williamson, the Women’s Basketball Supervisor of Officials and file a complaint. I ask others to call and then ask two friends to call. The phone number is 704.936.0503

      The problem is not just ACC. There is a video on youtube where Caitlin Clark is run out of bounds then thrown to the floor. Before that an Idaho shooter is hit squarely in the face by a Georgia player.

      Grab your phones and let Debbie Williamson hear your voice.

      1. Debbie Williamson’s phone went to voice mail. I choose not to leave a message. If I cannot get through tomorrow then I will leave a message.

  8. Our ladies just keep winning. A great effort today against a lot of difficulty. Missing too many open looks early helped BC staying close.

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