Virginia Tech completed its West Coast sweep on Sunday afternoon with a 68-58 victory over Cal.
"Just absolutely gritty 40 minutes," Hokies head coach Megan Duffy said on the Virginia Tech Sports Network afterwards. "Not pretty basketball by both teams throughout the game, but on the backend of this West Coast trip, we just were saying, 'Empty the tank, everything we can do.' ... Overall, just the grit of our team, making free throws, timely baskets was awesome. I'm so proud of them."
After handling Stanford on Thursday, the Hokies (20-7, 10-5 ACC) notched their 20th win of the year in a defensive slugfest with the Golden Bears (16-11, 7-7).
Tech used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to snatch the momentum, and another 10-0 stretch early in the fourth quarter put Cal on its heels for good. The Hokies outscored the Bears a combined 45-31 in those two periods — 21-16 in the second, 24-15 in the fourth.
Samyha Suffren was the catalyst. She locked down Lulu Twidale, Cal's leading scorer at 15.2 points per game, who recorded just four points and was 1-for-8 with seven turnovers. At the same time, she scored a career-high 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting, plus a 5-for-7 mark from the line.
After the second-quarter media timeout, Tech forced three turnovers, which led to Suffren buckets on the other end and sparked a run. She had eight of the team's 10 points over that stretch.
"I thought Samyha Suffren was incredible on Lulu," Duffy said. "I mean, that kid can shoot it. Just made it as difficult as possible. ... I thought we were really disciplined. Samyha was the queen of that today, just the way she ballhawked and never made a mistake going under a screen."
Kilah Freelon posted her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds while adding four steals. She did so despite hurting her left shoulder in the fourth quarter. She returned to the floor with it taped up and finished the game.
Her inside presence was important against Sakima Walker, Cal's 6-foot-6 center. Freelon and the Hokies got her in foul trouble early, and though she was 5-for-6 for 11 points, she had four turnovers and fouled out with 5:32 remaining.
Outside of Walker and Naya Ojukwu, who was 4-for-5 with 11 points, no other Cal player shot better than 50 percent from the floor. Mjracle Sheppard only took two shots and fouled out right after Walker, posting seven rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes, while the other three starters — Aliyahna Morris, Gisella Maul and Twidale — were a combined 6-for-28 shooting.
A chunk of that came from Morris, who was 4-for-12 and the Golden Bears' leading scorer with 15 points, courtesy of three 3-pointers. That trio was productive from the stripe, though — the story of the afternoon given the game's 47 personal fouls. Maul was 8-for-9, Morris was 4-for-8, Ojukwu was 3-for-3 and Twidale was 2-for-2.
Still, Tech handled things well. Attacking the rim was crucial, which resulted in 29 free throws. It made 25 of those, including a perfect 10-for-10 mark from Carleigh Wenzel.
She didn't have a great offensive trip to the Bay Area, shooting a combined 6-for-28 in two games (21.4%). Yet, she was 4-for-9 from behind the arc — that included the team's only 3-pointer in Haas Pavilion (1-for-5) early in the fourth — and 12-for-13 from the line while racking up 28 points.
Other teammates stepped up, though. On Thursday at Stanford, Mackenzie Nelson and Mel Daley combined for 23 points. On Sunday at Cal, Suffren had 19 while Daley chipped in eight. Carys Baker was also 4-for-8 with 10 points and five boards.
"We've been talking about we've got to make winning plays," Duffy said, "and anybody off the bench who can get a bucket, set a screen, get a defensive stop. I thought even Aniya Trent had some great minutes for us inside. Mel Daley, huge offensive rebound when we needed a bucket, and they're buying into that. It's not about shooting percentage or stats. It's about can you get the win?
"I'm just happy about our growth. After the Notre Dame and NC State losses, we reset ourselves, and to come on the road on the West Coast and different time changes and all different things, to have two wins is phenomenal."
However, Tech won the game with its defense. It withstood some offensive lulls — 27.8 percent shooting (5-for-18) in the first quarter and 25 percent (3-for-12) in the third — by holding Cal to just 38.3 percent overall (18-for-47) and a 3-for-16 mark from the outside. Two of those came in the final two minutes of regulation when the Golden Bears were in a double-digit hole.
The Hokies forced 22 turnovers, too, and scored as many points off of them. Freelon led the way with four steals while Nelson added three and Trent contributed two off the bench. Suffren, Daley and Kayl Petersen all had one.
"We knew Cal could turn the ball over at times, so we were trying to be very disciplined and scrappy and get our hands on balls," Duffy said. "They were going to get a couple easy ones, but I just thought we kept fighting, being in the right spots. I think they had 10 at halftime and we said, 'Hey, we can get another 10.' Gives us more possessions so we don't have to be perfect on offense."
With the win, Tech became the third program to travel to California and sweep the West Coast schools, joining Duke and Louisville. Notre Dame, Virginia and Wake Forest all failed to do so. Most impressive: The Cardinal and Golden Bears are a combined 21-9 on their home floors this season.
The Hokies boosted their résumé in the process, notching a Quadrant 1 win at Stanford and a Quadrant 2 victory at Cal — fellow bubble teams. In ESPN's latest bracketology on Sunday morning before they beat the Golden Bears, Charlie Creme had them on the "last four byes" line and a No. 10 seed playing in Baton Rouge.
Upon returning to Blacksburg, they have another quality opportunity to improve their NCAA Tournament seeding when No. 21 North Carolina visits on Thursday (6 p.m. ET). The Tar Heels (21-6, 10-4) had won eight consecutive games before losing at No. 11 Duke on Sunday.
Box Score: Virginia Tech 68, Cal 58