Hokie ClubIOWA CiTY, Iowa – The Virginia Tech women’s basketball team fell to Iowa, 58-47 on Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge match up at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
“Another gutty effort by our team,” said head coach Dennis Wolff. “We have two consecutive games played very well defensively we just need to do a better job of defensive rebounding. Again I am very proud of the effort put forth by the kids. I thought that Aerial Wilson had a very good game on both ends of the court”
Leading the Hokies (2-5) was Aerial Wilson with career high tying 18 points. Monet Tellier added 16. Larryqua Hall and Latorri Hines-Allen grabbed eight rebounds each to lead the Hokies.
The Hawkeyes (5-2) were led by Morgan Johnson with 23 points and eight rebounds. Jaime Printy added nine points.
Early in the game both teams were strong defensively and were scoreless in the opening four minutes of the game. Iowa opened the scoring and took a 10-6 lead midway through the half. The Hokies responded with a 12-4 run, pulling ahead 18-14 with 6:38 left in the opening period. Tech maintained the lead over the next two minutes, but the Hawkeyes tied it up at 20 with 4:20 on the clock. Iowa closed out the half with a 7-3 run to take a 27-23 advantage into the break.
Tech came out strong after the break as Wilson hit three straight jumpers for a 6-2 run, tying the score (29) for the third time in the game, but the Hawkeyes answered with a 7-0 run of their own taking a 37-29 advantage with 12:09 left to play. Tech got the deficit down to two (40-38) at the 9:37 mark, but the Hawkeyes again extended the lead, going up 47-38 with just under seven minutes remaining. The Hokies closed the gap to five, 47-42, with 5:23 to play, but that is as close as they would get as Iowa held on for the win.
Iowa held a 47-38 advantage on rebounding including 16 ofensive boards, allowing for 17-second chance points, but Tech knocked down 10 fast break points. Tech shot 31.6 percent from the field (18-of-57) while the Hawkeyes shot 33.3 percent (20-of-60). The Hawkeyes went 16-of-20 from the free throw line (80 percent) and the Hokies connected on 8-of-13 (61.5 percent),
The Hokies will be back on the court Tuesday, Dec. 6 when they travel to State College, Pa. to face No. 15 ranked Penn State. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.