Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Despite leading the No. 7/8 Duke Blue Devils with under seven minutes to play, the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team succumbed to a late, 10-0 run to fall by a score of 65-53 on Sunday afternoon in Cassell Coliseum.
“I’m extremely proud of how well our team battled today,” Tech head coach Beth Dunkenberger said after the game. “We all know that the game was much closer than the final score indicated. I’ve got to give Duke credit for their defense because they forced a lot of our turnovers, but for us to be able to rebound and defend with one of the top teams in the nation, I think it’s something that we can learn and grow from. This one leaves a bad taste in your mouth because it slipped away, but we’ve got to use this as a springboard to our next game.”
Things didn’t look good for the Hokies (13-12, 2-8 ACC) at the start, as the Blue Devils (21-4, 9-1 ACC) jumped out to a 20-7 lead less than 10 minutes into the game thanks to an 18-4 run that was sparked by three 3-pointers. However, Tech closed the half on an 11-4 run to pull with four at the intermission, 30-26.
“The key was when we switched our defense to a [2-3] zone,” Dunkenberger said. “It slowed them down considerably and kept the ball out of the paint. That was definitely the turning point.”
The Hokies continued to perform well in the second half, slugging it out with Duke until a traditional three-point play by sophomore Shanel Harrison gave Tech its first lead since the opening minutes of the contest. The Washington, D.C., native tied the game at 41 on her mid-air stick back of a miss, getting fouled in the process and sending the season-high crowd of 3,369 fans into a frenzy. She converted the ensuing free throw to put the Hokies up 42-41 with 7:50 left on the clock.
“I thought it could spark a run for us to where we could get ahead and win the game,” Harrison said of the play, and Dunkenberger agreed.
“It did [feel like Tech had gained the momentum],” she said. “I really felt that we were in a great position because we had managed to lock down the paint after they jumped out to that early lead. Even [Jasmine] Thomas’ 3-pointers were a result of us overcompensating in the paint, but our zone was working well.”
Tech’s Brittany Gordon answered two Joy Cheek free throws with a pair of her own to give the Hokies a 44-43 lead at 6:50, but that ended up being the final lead that Tech would hold. The Blue Devils soon ripped off a 10-0 run by hitting four consecutive shots and a free throw to go up 53-44 by the 3:21 mark.
“Duke went to its strength when the game got tight, and that was pounding the ball into the paint and getting second shots,” Dunkenberger said. “That was the difference. Even the 3 they hit was a result of the ball going inside and coming back out.”
Harrison ended a Tech field-goal drought of nearly five minutes at 2:52 with another put-back, but the Hokies would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
The Hokies grabbed 37 rebounds to the larger Blue Devils’ 34, marking just the fourth time this season that Duke has been out-rebounded. The game showed a marked improvement over Tech’s 31-point loss in Durham over three weeks ago.
“We’ve played a lot more games since then,” senior guard Lindsay Biggs said. “I think we’re a little bit more experienced and we’ve played a lot of good teams. We’ve definitely come a long way. The ending score doesn’t look all that great, but if you were here, you know that it was a lot closer than that.”
Harrison finished the game with a team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds, earning her third career double-double. She has now grabbed at least seven rebounds in each of her last six games. Biggs finished with 13 points, including three treys.
Thomas scored a game-high 22 points and had five assists for Duke. Karima Christmas added 15 points and Cheek netted 10.
The Hokies will return to the court on Thursday with a road contest at Florida State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.