Despite leading for 37 of regulation’s 40 minutes, Virginia Tech couldn’t close out Thursday night’s game in Cassell Coliseum vs. Stanford. Instead, the Cardinal rallied late, forced overtime and won 75-74 in the extra period.
“Our execution just wasn’t good,” Tech head coach Megan Duffy said. “I thought we got tight. I thought Stanford just continued to hang around, made some big shots downhill, made a three and our execution was very weak. Even when we got a couple good looks, we just didn’t finish. Missed a couple free throws.”
The Hokies (16-10, 7-8 ACC) had an 11-point cushion halfway through the third quarter that slowly slipped away. It was like a switch flipped entering the fourth — after shooting 35 percent through the first 30 minutes, Stanford (14-12, 6-9) was 62 percent from the field in the last 15.
Meanwhile, Tech couldn’t take care of the ball. It committed 22 turnovers, six of which came in the final period. It also had seven in the second quarter, including on five consecutive possessions — three bad passes, a shot clock violation and an offensive foul. There were two five-second calls on inbounds, too.
The Hokies also didn’t seize the opportunities they had. A two-point game with 2:18 in regulation, they missed two shots, committed two miscues — one of which was an offensive foul on a push off from Carleigh Wenzel — and allowed Cardinal guard Chloe Clardy to blow right by. Two free throws from Lani White were all they could muster, and that foul was committed with five seconds left on the shot clock — somewhat of a bailout call.
Even when Clardy went one-for-two from the foul line and Stanford led 73-71 with 28 seconds in overtime, the Hokies watched their chances of winning roll out of bounds as the ball got away from Rose Micheaux.
After looking like an NCAA Tournament team for the first 30 minutes, Tech faltered in the waning moments against a subpar squad that it led by double digits.
“I just thought we finally had some really good possessions,” Duffy said, “where we got Carleigh downhill for a layup, we got Matilda a shot, we got Rose the ball where we wanted to and then we just needed to settle down and take a good shot. I always say, ‘If you take the good shot and it doesn’t go in, you can live with that,’ but I thought we bobbled the ball. Even getting the ball inbounds, some uncharacteristic things with that. We had the push off call at the end of the game, we’re going to take the last shot.
“Just little things like that that really haven’t happened, and that’s the game of basketball. You have to kind of take it for what it is and try and learn from it. I think it was a mix of the execution like we’re talking about.”
Tech got there by playing well early. Matilda Ekh took over in the first quarter, knocking down all four of her shot attempts and scoring nine of the team’s 16 points. Leading 32-25 at halftime, it relied heavily on Micheaux in the third.
It posted six of the first seven points in the period — five of which came from Micheaux — and forced Stanford to call timeout at the 7:11 mark. Although the Cardinal made a 9-0 run and cut the margin to two, the Hokies had a swift response. Back-to-back transition layups from Mackenzie Nelson and Kayl Petersen, followed by a Micheaux layup at the horn, put them up 47-40 entering the fourth.
However, Stanford slowly chipped away. The seven-point margin vanished quickly, a run spearheaded by Clardy. The sophomore entered the day averaging 9.4 points per game but had that at halftime before finishing with a career-high 30. Fourteen of those came in the fourth quarter as she helped her squad chip away.
“I thought she was tremendous,” Duffy said of Clardy. “Got downhill when she wanted. We didn’t execute how we wanted to guard that very well and then that three down by their bench late was a dagger. She just continued to step up and make plays for her team. … She played like the best player on the floor tonight.”
After the Hokies failed to hold off the Cardinal on either end in the final seconds of regulation, along came overtime. Stanford scored immediately and led 65-63 for the first time since it was 2-0. A few minutes later, Tech took a 70-69 lead through Micheaux, though Clardy responded with a 3-pointer.
Carys Baker had a chance to knot things at 72 at the stripe but went one-for-two. The Hokies were in still it, but the turnover from Micheaux put the game on ice.
The result overshadowed an impressive individual performance from Micheaux, who finished with a season-high 21 points and 13 rebounds. She stayed out of foul trouble for the majority of the first half and was active, grabbing nine boards before the break.
It was a painful defeat for the Hokies, though, who are squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble and couldn’t afford to slip up. They’ve got three games remaining — vs. Cal, at Boston College and at Miami — and should be in contention for a spot in the Big Dance, but that’s now three contests they’ve lost against subpar competition when needing to win, joining Virginia and Syracuse.
“We’ve had so many lessons this year and I think this one hurt so bad because we’re in a position down the stretch and it matters,” Duffy said. “… We’ve done it at different points this year, but I think how we lost it was disappointing. … This one doesn’t feel good, but we can’t control it now. It’s about moving forward.”
Beating the Golden Bears during senior day on Sunday would be impressive, but Tech has a big hill to climb now. Even finishing the regular season with three consecutive victories and taking a game in the ACC Tournament wouldn’t be enough to guarantee an NCAA Tournament spot, especially against bid stealers and other bubble teams.
“There were bad things that happened, but there were also good things that happened,” Micheaux said. “All we can do is learn from it and keep pushing and go onto the next game. We have a game on Sunday so we can’t dwell on it for too long, but we definitely have to learn from it and watch it and see where we can get better.”
Box Score: Stanford 75, Virginia Tech 74 (OT)
Thoughts from #Hokies' 75-74 overtime loss to Stanford: pic.twitter.com/jrxCFkWKFT
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) February 21, 2025