Virginia Tech Dominates Syracuse
The Hokies delivered a crushing loss to the Orange Thursday night and Syracuse Head Coach Vonn Read could see struggles from the beginning.
“That was a tough one from the start, Virginia Tech is a very good basketball team," he said “They’re ranked 23 for a reason.”
Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Kitley stands at 6’6” and stood out for more reasons than just her height. She put up 24 points and 10 rebounds against the Orange, contributing to the Hokies 102-53 victory.
Reed knew that Kitley, the tallest player in the ACC, would put up a challenge for his team.
“It’s tough,” he said. “Obviously she’s 6’6”, and we don’t have anybody that size. She's a player of the year candidate.”.
Syracuse guard Christiana Carr put up 14 points, the second most on the team just behind Teisha Hyman who put up 18, but she said they needed to do more to stop their opponent.
“Guarding the three-point line,” she said. “I think that’s one thing we really needed to focus on tonight and we need to do a better job of moving forward.”
Virginia Tech shot 58.1% from the field and 53.8% from behind the three point line. The Hokies jumped out to a double digit lead early, and continued to expand the lead as the game progressed.
For Syracuse, this was the third game in five days, having faced off against Pittsburgh, Florida State, and finally Virginia Tech on Thursday night. Fatigue appeared to prevent any realistic chance at a comeback once the Hokies started to pull away.
The Orange only made 20 out of 66 field goal attempts and 9 out of 28 three pointers. During the final quarter of the game Syracuse put up only 5 points, while Virginia Tech kept their consistency putting up 22.
The Orange lost by the biggest margin all season, a 49-point deficit. Virginia Tech’s win brought them to 12-3 in the ACC, the first time in the program’s history.
The Hokies are now on a five-game win streak while the Orange’s overall record dropped to 11-14. Syracuse takes on NC State on the road Sunday at 2 PM.
