Hokies Narrowly Lose See-Saw Fight with No. 22 North Carolina, 66-63

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Basketball games are occasionally vacillatory and decided by possession-to-possession outcomes. For Virginia Tech women's hoops, it came up one possession short Thursday in its 66-63 overtime heartbreaker vs. No. 22 North Carolina.

"I thought we had a toughness about ourselves and had great effort," said Virginia Tech (20-8, 10-6 ACC) head coach Megan Duffy. "... Just got to give North Carolina a lot of credit. I thought late in that game, fourth quarter and overtime, they made huge plays. We had a couple different breakdowns, and they took advantage late. I really believe we had our opportunities, just didn't have enough execution down the stretch."

FINAL (OT) | Tech 63, No. 22 UNC 66
— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) February 20, 2026

The defeat wasn't for a lack of trying. With 26 seconds left, Hokies guard Samyha Suffren attacked the lane and nailed a lay-up to knot the game at 57-all, eventually sending the game to overtime.

"We were sort of daring her to make that shot," said North Carolina (22-6, 11-4 ACC) head coach Courtney Banghart. "... I'll take her making twos with us, chasing it, vs. getting [Carleigh Wenzel or Carys Baker] off the arc or getting on the glass. So that's on me, because I told our guys to go through it,

Yet, in overtime, North Carolina just possessed a little more in its proverbial tank, outlasting the Hokies and going one possession deeper.

With 25 seconds remaining in the extra period, Tar Heels forward Nyla Harris knocked down a pair of free throws to give North Carolina a 66-63 lead. Following consecutive three-point misses by Wenzel, Virginia Tech got the ball back with 0.8 seconds left. Baker received the ball and fired the shot off in time; however, the shot was short, knocking against front iron and cementing a narrow 66-63 loss for the Hokies.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Tech lost was the second quarter. The two teams produced an insipid second-frame shooting effort, combining to make just four of 22 (18.2%) looks from the field. Across the game, Virginia Tech shot 33.8% (22-for-65) from the field and 27.3% (6-for-22) from three-point range, though it led for just under 31 minutes of the game's 45-minute total.

The Hokies restraining North Carolina to a 1-for-11 (9.1%) clip in the second quarter lifted them to a 28-21 advantage at intermission. At the halftime break, the Tar Heels went into the visitors' locker room to reassess and more importantly, to regroup and revamp ahead of the second half. Going into the final 20-minute stretch, North Carolina had went 5-for-23 (21.7%) in the first half — and it made just two of its 11 looks (18.1%) inside the arc.

"I think we all collectively did, but Indya [Nivar] did," Harris said. "She was just saying, 'We got to be better. First half wasn't good. We got to be better if we want to win this game. They're not going to just lay down. They're not going to just let us come here and win.'"

The Tar Heels remained within reach entering the second half because Virginia Tech itself also struggled with shooting. In that second quarter, the Hokies went 3-for-11 and logged 10 total points. In the first half, North Carolina limited Wenzel to 1-of-7 shooting. The second frame was one of three where the Hokies shot under 40%. The other two? The final quarter of regulation — a 5-for-15 affair where the Hokies were outscored by two — and overtime.

Back to the start of the second half: Virginia Tech came out of the gates sluggish to start the third quarter. The Hokies allowed North Carolina to go on a quick 7-2 run by the third-quarter media timeout (5:34) that brought the margin to three.

Still, Virginia Tech, holding a 35-32 lead, scored enough to hold the Tar Heels at bay entering the final frame. Going into the fourth quarter, the Hokies held a 44-42 lead, though it had allowed a shot-clock-beating triple from Lanie Grant right at the tail end of the third frame.

Then, North Carolina outscored Virginia Tech, 15-13, in quarter No. 4 to force overtime. Three Hokies logged 40-plus minutes, paced by Baker's 43:09.

"We just want to go out there and do everything that we can," she said. "If that means me and Carleigh, or whoever it is, has to stay on the floor longer, that's what we're going to do. ... It's preparation, it starts with that always."

In that extra period, the Tar Heels' defense found an extra gear. Virginia Tech knocked down just two of its 12 (16.7%) shots in overtime. Though North Carolina attempted just five shots, it made two, including a three-pointer, plus four critical free throws.

The end result was perhaps not a surprising one — a ranked team in North Carolina beating an unranked Virginia Tech — but it was the manner in which the Hokies lost that left a lingering feeling of a missed opportunity.

There were good takeaways to absorb from the contest for Virginia Tech, though. Baker and Suffren were effective in spurts; Baker totaled 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, though she went 2-of-7 inside the arc. She also logged eight rebounds.

Kilah Freelon was also solid, tallying six points while also hauling down 10 rebounds. It was Freelon who was tasked with defending Harris for much of the night; Harris finished the day with 16 points and nine rebounds on 4-of-10 shooting.

"Kilah had her hands full defensively," Duffy said. "Nyla Harris... she's a monster. She's physical, she's talented, she's just relentless. I though Kilah did a really good job to limit some touches and just battle with her."

Wenzel's night was perhaps the roughest statistically. The redshirt senior went 3-for-16 across the game, including a 2-for-10 clip from beyond the arc. She also committed five turnovers.

"She's a problem and we knew we had to switch out, it really helps," Banghart said. "... We lost her twice in the first half, we didn't lose her the rest of the way. We just kept saying we're just going to keep wearing on her."

Wenzel has endured a cold stretch as of late following a strong January, where she shot 43.6% from the field. The redshirt senior guard has went 9-for-44 (20.5%) in her last three games.

Both teams went scoreless for three-plus minutes to close out overtime — North Carolina for the last 3:41 and Virginia Tech for the final 3:57. The only difference? North Carolina got to the free-throw line to tally enough points to narrowly pull away. That, and the Hokies missed their final eight field goal attempts.

But back to the free throws: The Tar Heels received a boost when forward Carys Baker was whistled for a foul with 87 seconds left. The ACC Network's replay appeared to show Baker taking an elbow to the face; the refereeing crew did not revisit the call. Duffy remarked that at least one of the officials thought the foul was more of a unintentional collision.

"There's certain things I can review, certain things I can't," Duffy said. "At least one of them came over to me and said they just felt like it was a more of a collision vs. the new F1 that it might not be intentional, but if you really whack somebody, they'll go to it. So, unfortunately, Carys got the brunt of it, but I think it was bodies coming together vs. something cheap. And I know it probably didn't feel good for her, but I guess that's what they told me, that it wasn't necessarily something they thought they needed to review."

Still, despite the loss, Virginia Tech sits in a good position. The Hokies have won nine of their last 12, with more manageable contests vs. Georgia Tech (Feb. 22) and at Virginia (March 1) set to close out the squad's regular season. Virginia Tech currently sits at No. 7 in the ACC standings, and as of the morning of Feb. 17, was the third team listed in the "Last Four Byes" section.

Virginia Tech's contest vs. Georgia Tech will occur on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. ET, and viewing for the contest will be available on ACC Network Extra. At the time of writing, the Hokies are easily favored, holding a 89.5%-win probability on ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

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