Hot-shooting Hokies hand SU first home loss

Sunday’s top-25 matchup between the No. 19 Virginia Tech Hokies and No. 22 Syracuse Orange was always going to be a statement game at the top of the ACC.

Fresh off a road win at No. 15 Notre Dame, Syracuse women’s basketball had a chance to notch its fourth ranked win of the season and second such win of the week.

But it was not to be for the Orange.

Virginia Tech pulled out a 75-62 victory that lifted it into a tie for second in the ACC along with SU.

“We gotta get better within ourselves,” Syracuse head coach Felish Legette-Jack says following the tough defeat. “We’re gonna keep getting better and we’re gonna keep making you proud I promise.”

The Orange fell short today largely in part to the first quarter, that saw the Hokies race out to a 23-9 lead. SU was forced to play catch-up from there.

A majority of VT’s early success is credited to Georgia Amoore, who made her mark on this matchup from the jump. 

The guard from Ballarat, Australia put up 29 points and three assists, including her hot start in the first quarter, where she scored the team’s first 11 points.  

The Hokies used that shooting performance from their leading scorer to fuel the rest of the team, knocking down 42% of their shots from behind the arc.

Amoore had complete control of the game with a +21 when she was on the floor, but she didn’t play in the second quarter, where Syracuse went on their run to keep the game close, cutting the deficit to 36-32 at the half. 

The Orange jumped on the back of graduate guard Dyaisha Fair in that second quarter, as she finished the half with 10 points and 3 assists.

But unlike past games against Clemson and Florida State, SU could not complete the big comeback. The Hokies kept the Orange at arm’s length for most of the second half before pulling away at the end.

“Defensively I think they just played, like, tighter inside and we tried to kick the ball out”, said Orange graduate guard Alaina Rice, who had 14 points, but went 0-for-3 from deep.

The Hokies’ defensive success came primarily from the way they handled Fair. 

Syracuse’s leader didn’t have a poor game on the stat sheet, finishing with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three 3-pointers, but the Hokies held her without a score, assist, or rebound from the start of the third quarter until there was 7:24 left in the game. 

Junior guard Georgia Woolley also had 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, helping to keep SU in the game until the dying moments. 

Syracuse struggled from the same place where the Hokies succeeded: the 3-point line. Syracuse hit five 3-pointers in the contest, which came out to be a staggering 23%. 

“We only shot seventeen free throws”, said Legette-Jack, “We should’ve had thirty free throws because they were reaching and grabbing”.

Photo by Griffin Uribe Brown

Felisha Legette-Jack coaches from the sideline against Virginia Tech on Jan. 28, 2024, in the JMA Wireless Dome.

That lack of aggressiveness in the paint also gave Virginia Tech a rebounding edge, out-boarding the Orange 47-39.

The one thing that Syracuse can definitely take away from this game is how they held the leading scorer for the Hokies, Elizabeth Kitley, to six points and nine rebounds. It was Kitley’s only game this year being held under 10 points, her worst shooting game of the season, and her second most turnovers in a contest. 

“It’s really not about her, it’s about us being able to fly out to those shooters”, Coach Leggette-Jack said, who still wasn’t happy with how the Orange attempted to shut down the overall Hokies offense. “It’s our family versus their team”. 

Syracuse next has back-to-back road games, where the Orange travel to battle the Louisville Cardinals on Thursday. The marquee matchup will likely be three straight top-25 games for Legette-Jack’s squad. SU follows that game with a trip to Boston College on Feb. 4.