Three Takeaways From Virginia Tech's 66-63 Loss to North Carolina

It was a defensive grind, but the Hokies fall just short to No. 22 North Carolina.

Three takeaways from Virginia Tech Women's Basketball's 79-47 victory over Radford. | Virginia Tech Athletics.

Virginia Tech and No. 22 North Carolina played a game that felt like March in mid-February. The Hokies led at halftime, traded blows throughout the second half and had chances late in regulation and ovetime before falling 66-63 in Cassell Coliseum. Virginia Tech led for more than 30 minutes, but the Tar Heels made the final push when it mattered most.

FINAL (OT) | Tech 63, No. 22 UNC 66

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) February 20, 2026

Here are three takeaways from the overtime thriller.

1. Virginia Tech's late-game offense ran into one of the nation's best defenses.

The Hokies (20-8, 10-6 ACC) had real chances to win in both regulation and overtime, but finishing plays late against North Carolina (22-6, 11-4 ACC) is one of the toughest tasks in the ACC.

Virginia Tech tied the game at 57 with 26 seconds left in regulation after a Samyha Suffren layup forced overtime. And the Hokies even led 63-62 with just under three minutes left in the extra period. From that point on, the offense stalled. Virginia Tech missed its final eight field goal attempts and did not score for the remaining 2:48 of the game.

"We got some good looks, but missed some layups," said Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy. "I thought we needed to finish a little better. I thought we had a couple, maybe four or five layups that needed to go in."

North Carolina allows the least amount of points per game in the ACC, giving up just 57.8 a contest entering tonight. Even when the Tar Heels stalled offensively in the first half, their defense kept them in it.

"It's a hard team to guard," North Carolina head coach Courtney Banghart said. "Both teams were desperate for a win. They've got great foot speed, they've got great shooters, really physical game."

With 25 seconds left in overtime, the Hokies had the ball with the Tar Heels up three. Wenzel has a chance to tie the game with a three, but is blocked by Nyla Harris. She gets her own miss and misses another three. The ball goes off a North Carolina defender with 0.8 seconds left, and Tech has one more chance at tying the game.

The Hokies found forward Carys Baker in the corner for an open look, but she missed the shot on front iron, and the Tar Heels emerged victorious.

2. North Carolina made Carleigh Wenzel work for everything.

North Carolina did everything it could to keep Wenzel at bay. The redshirt junior played just six minutes in the first half due to picking up two personal fouls. But once she returned in the second half, the Tar Heel defense did everything it could to make her life difficult.

"She's a problem," Banghart said. "We were able to use length against her. We lost her twice in the first half, and we didn't lose her again the rest of the way. We just kept saying we're going to keep wearing on her."

Wenzel finished with 14 points, two assists and three rebounds. She shot just 3-for-16 from the field and turned the ball over five times.

Even with the tough shooting night, Wenzel's impact remained clear. Her attention drawing helped opportunities for teammates like Suffren and Baker, who both finished with 15 points.

Duffy credited Wenzel and the team's fight throughout the game.

"I'm really proud of my team this evening," said Duffy. "I thought we had a toughness about ourselves and had great effort."

Wenzel is in a bit of a cold stretch recently after shooting the ball 43.6 percent in January. In her last three games, she has shot 9-for-44.

3. Virginia Tech didn't capialize on North Carolina's first half shooting struggles.

While Virginia Tech played excellent defense in the first half, the Hokies did not do enough to build a large enough lead against a ranked opponent. North Carolina shot just 5-for-23 in the first half and made just one field goal in the second quarter. However, the Tar Heels only trailed 28-21 going into the break.

Banghart said the halftime message focused on urgency rather than tactics.

"We had to play harder, we had to compete and we had to attack more," said Banghart.

In the second quarter, while the Hokies only gave up seven points, they only scored 10.

Against a great team like North Carolina, it was inevitable for the offensive surge to happen. While the Hokies did enough to force overtime, they should not have been in that position to begin with if they had a better first half.

Virginia Tech will play its final home game of the season on Sunday, Feb. 22 against Georgia Tech. Tipoff for the game will start at 2:00 p.m. ET, and coverage will be on ACC Network Extra.