Three Takeaways from Virginia Tech Women's Basketball's 79-42 Win Over SMU

The Hokies claimed a dominant 37-point victory over the Mustangs.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech women's basketball cruised to a comfortable victory in its Thursday tilt against SMU, throttling the Mustangs, 79-42, for the Hokies' third straight victory. Here's three takeaways from the Hokies' 14th victory of the 2025-26 campaign.

Total team effort on the road! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/gtJnOX1RrF

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) January 16, 2026

No. 1: Virginia Tech excelled in regard to the three-pointer — on both ends.

This season, Virginia Tech has not been stellar in regard to its three-point shooting. Entering tonight's contest, the Hokies sported just a 28.3% clip from deep, compared to a 32.5% clip from its opponents. Surprisingly, however, Virginia Tech was pinpoint from beyond the arc, knocking down seven of its 17 looks from three-point land against the Mustangs, good for a 41.2% mark.

The Hokies also did a stellar job of limiting SMU from deep, holding the Mustangs to a 3-for-18 (16.6%) clip. Save for forward Anaya Brown — she logged a 2-for-4 mark from three — SMU's other shooters made just one of their 14 combined three-point looks. The Mustangs made just 22% of their shots against a stout Hokies defense that thrived on forcing ball pressure. Virginia Tech logged 11 steals, including five in the final frame, and forced SMU into 22 turnovers.

"We're just trying to stay focused on our team improving every single possession,"
said Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy on the Virginia Tech Sports Network to play-by-play commentator Evan Hughes. "Not getting too high or too low and just pushing to a different level. And I thought, third and fourth quarter, it was a little bit better. To only give up eight, 11, 14 and nine on the road is a good thing."

No. 2: This team has a plethora of contributors.

Virginia Tech's domination was a team affair, with four Hokies scoring in double figures: forward Kilah Freelon (18), guard Samyha Suffren (18), forward Carys Baker (15) and guard Carleigh Wenzel (10).

Though Wenzel has struggled at points this season, sporting a 15-for-74 (20.3%) clip in the month of December, January has been fruitful. Save for a 1-for-10 outing against Louisville where the redshirt junior guard logged five points, Wenzel has tallied double-figure points in every game this month. Against the Mustangs, Wenzel logged her 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting, adding four rebounds and three assists.

Wenzel's effort came alongside fellow junior Carys Baker, who poured in 15 points, all of which came in the second half. After starting the first half 0-for-4 from the field and missing patches of the game while limping, Baker ended the contest strong, logging 15 second-half points in 6-of-10 shooting. That included seven points in a dominant 22-9 final frame, where Virginia Tech tallied more points off turnovers (13) than SMU's total fourth quarter output.

Freelon continued her strong season, logging 18 points (tied for her career high), alongside nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals. The performance was an all-around night from the senior forward, who came just one rebound shy of posting her third double-double of the season. Suffren added onto the two's effort, logging a career-high 18 points and two blocks, alongside five rebounds and three steals.

"Samyha was a bright spot, just hawking the ball and trying to create some positive plays for us," Duffy said.

No. 3: Virginia Tech did as expected and took care of business.

SMU, like Boston College before it, hasn't won an ACC game all season, now dropping to 0-6 in league play. The Mustangs rank second-to-last in the ACC standings, only behind Boston College, while the Hokies sit near the conference's midpoint, coming in at No. 7 at the time of writing with a 4-3 record in league play. Virginia Tech's next contest, however, will be more challenging. The Hokies will take on Clemson, who sits 10th in the league, next on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. ET in Cassell Coliseum. The game will be available for viewing on ACC Network Extra.