On Thursday night in a ranked clash, No. 16 Duke handed No. 12 Virginia Tech its first loss in four games in a 66-55 rock fight in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It was a tough night for reigning ACC Player of the Week Elizabeth Kitley, who scored just two points on one-of-nine shooting. Georgia Amoore (seven points, 2-of-12) was quiet as well.
As a result, the Hokies (16-4, 6-4 ACC) had to look elsewhere for offense. The other three starters and D’asia Gregg combined for 46 of Tech’s 55 points, led by Taylor Soule (19 points). Cayla King and Kayana Traylor finished with nine points each while Gregg added seven. In all, they shot 14-of-28.
Shayeann Day-Wilson led the Blue Devils (18-2, 8-1 ACC) with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Nine players in the 10-man rotation scored in the team effort. Duke shot 41.5% for the game despite a hot first quarter where it was 9-of-14 (64%).
“Duke played well, they played hard, they were very physical,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said after the loss. “They did what they wanted to do. I don’t know what Kara [Lawson]’s gameplan was but it looked like they executed it, and they deserved to win the basketball game.”
The Blue Devils led for the entire first half and the lead stretched to as much as nine towards the end of the first quarter. But Virginia Tech fought back, holding Duke to three field goals in the second quarter while shooting 42% itself.
Day-Wilson had 12 of her 18 points in the first half, leading all scorers. Gregg, Soule and Traylor each had seven.
The Hokies locked down defensively after the first quarter, limiting the Blue Devils to 6-of-24 from the field for the second and third periods. Duke missed six of its first seven shots after intermission, which allowed Tech to close the gap.
“We did a good job,” Brooks said of the team’s defense. “Day-Wilson really got them going – I think she was perfect on the day for a while – but then we settled in and started to play and not just play their plays. We did a decent job. Our defense was okay; we just have to shore up some other things.”
But Tech had its struggles. After retaking the lead via a King 3-pointer with 4:17 to play in the third quarter, the team couldn’t buy a basket the rest of the way. Duke’s defense was suffocating, allowing just 15 points for the remainder of the game. Over the same stretch, Kara Lawson’s squad scored 29.
Tech made six of its 23 field goals in the second half (26%). The two in the third quarter were both 3-pointers; Soule was the only player to hit one in the fourth. She was the lone motor for Kenny Brooks & Co., making six of her 11 shots and six of her eight free throws.
“She rose to the level of the way the game was going, the flow of the game,” Brooks said of Soule. “And she has that, she has that physicality and she’s been playing well so I’m very, very proud of her and what she’s bringing to us and it’s only going to continue to get better.”
But the Blue Devils controlled every facet of the contest, forcing 10 turnovers and blocking six shots in the second half. For the game, those numbers were 17 and seven, respectively.
On top of that, Kitley’s one field goal was in the first quarter. Duke denied her the ball and made every shot a difficult one, and it stunted Tech’s offensive output.
“We wanted to make catches really difficult,” Lawson said of defending Kitley. “The goal was to make her take a contested shot every time she took one, knowing that she’s good enough to still make those, but just to make things as difficult as possible.”
To go with solid defense, Duke’s offense was rejuvenated in the final 10 minutes. Tech allowed just six made baskets on 24 attempts in the second and third quarters, but the Blue Devils were 7-of-15 in the fourth. Celeste Taylor and Elizabeth Balogun played key roles and finished with eight points apiece.
The loss is the third on the road for Virginia Tech this year after defeats at Clemson and Miami. The program responded with two- and three-game winning streaks after each. Virginia is up next on Sunday in John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, and the Hokies beat the Cavaliers by eight in early January.
“Hard fought game and we just came up on the short end of the stick,” Brooks said. “We’ll regroup and get ready for UVa on Sunday.”
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