Virginia Tech Conquers First-Quarter Woes In 62-54 Triumph Over Georgia Tech

It's hard to win a basketball game when you start 1-for-16 from the field. Yet, Virginia Tech women's basketball did just that in their 62-54 victory over Georgia Tech, progressing to the quarterfinals of the 2026 ACC Tournament.

Same time tomorrow night?! 🦃 pic.twitter.com/wa924B2fTG
— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) March 6, 2026

The Hokies (23-8, 12-6 ACC) missed all but one of their first 16 shots and as a result, trailed 17-3 to the Yellow Jackets (14-18, 8-10 ACC). But they made their final two shots of the quarter to close the deficit to 17-7.

And by halftime, the Hokies led. In the second quarter, Virginia Tech broke the dam open. The Hokies erupted on a 15-0 run to place the ball squarely in its court. As aforementioned, Virginia Tech trailed 17-3 with 1:29 to go in the opening quarter, looking stilted and timid.

But at the 4:09 mark of the second, the Hokies grabbed the lead on a jumper by sophomore guard Leila Wells. Wells compiled a career-high six rebounds Thursday evening, adding eight points on 3-of-7 shooting.

"Just really thrilled about our response after a really difficult start," said Hokies head coach Megan Duffy. "Give Georgia Tech credit. They came out punching. I thought we maybe were a little bit nervous trying to get our feet under us for the beginning of the tournament. But after that I thought we settled in, and defensively we were a lot better."

Virginia Tech's final frame was more like the first, but without Georgia Tech's strong shooting. The Hokies went 3-for-15 to start the final quarter, but nailed their last two shots, capped by a Samyha Suffren jumper that represented the dagger. The Yellow Jackets went 4-for-12 to close out.

Suffren struggled with shooting, going 4-for-13; however, she logged eight points, five rebounds and five assists in an all-around day.

Forward Carys Baker also dealt with shooting difficulties for the duration of Thursday's tilt. The junior went 3-for-16 from the field and 1-for-7 from three-point range, though she eventually posted nine points. Baker also posted seven rebounds. Though it wasn't her strongest performance by any means, it was enough — a throughline extending for many Hokies' performances.

Guard Mackenzie Nelson was incandescent on Thursday, however. The redshirt sophomore went 6-for-10 for 14 points and compiled a career-high nine rebounds, also logging six assists.

"I think I'm in this role that's do whatever is needed, whether that's come out and score or whether that's come out and throw a couple dimes, get some charges, play some defense," Nelson said. "And like Carys, Carleigh, our main scorers, maybe weren't hitting in the beginning of the game. But we saw Leila step up, we saw Samyha come in, you saw me hit a couple shots. And I think that's our team right there.

Anyone on this team can go out and score 10, 15 points."

Then, there was Wenzel, who went 5-for-13 for a team-high 15 points. Outside of Wenzel and Nelson, Virginia Tech went 14-for-46 (30.4%), though. Still, it was enough to boost the Hokies and to boost Virginia Tech into the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

The shooting difficulties were similar to the Hokies' last victory against Georgia Tech, which was a 62-51 victory on Feb. 22. In that game, Virginia Tech shot 19-for-67 (28.4%) from the field (28.4%) and 4-for-18 (22.2%) from beyond the arc.

The Hokies were a tick better on Thursday however. As a team, Virginia Tech knocked down 25 of its 69 (36.2%) looks from the field, including seven of 22 (31.8%) from long range.

Georgia Tech also struggled similarly. The Yellow Jackets went 20-for-54 (37.0%) and 4-for-16 (25.0%) from the field and beyond the three-point line, respectively.

Virginia Tech's tournament-opening victory came about primarily thanks to its effort in the middle two quarters, where it shot 17-for-34, an even 50% clip. In the first and final frames, the Hokies shot a drab 8-for-35 (22.9%).

Yet they won, primarily off the back of their second-quarter surge. That, and thriving in transition. Virginia Tech outscored Georgia Tech 24-5 in points off turnovers; the Hokies also possessed a 11-3 advantage in fastbreak points.

"At some point in the first quarter and multiple, whether it was the media time-out or a time-out, we just almost had to reset ourselves," Duffy said. "Everything we worked on didn't really go according to plan. We said let's start with following the game plan, let's start with turning up our defense. We were just a step slow on everything, very similar to when we played them at home not too long ago."

Virginia Tech also forced the Yellow Jackets' two leading scorers into a combined eight fouls. Taiayah Walker, who delivered a team-hgih 20 points for the Yellow Jackets, plus eight rebounds, picked up three fouls and shot a relatively inefficient 7-for-19.

Virginia Tech's stint in the tournament continues tomorrow when it faces off against third-seeded North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. ET. The contest will be broadcast on the ACC Network. The Hokies lost 66-63 to the Tar Heels in the two teams' last matchup on Feb. 19. In that game, Baker missed a potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired.