Virginia Tech Women's Basketball Hangs On, Defeats Florida 68-64

It was close the whole game, but in the end, Virginia Tech pulled away with the win.

Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG, Va – Virginia Tech women's basketball pulled away with a gutsy win, handing Florida its second loss of the season Thursday. The Hokies defeated the Gators, 68-64, in Cassell Coliseum in the ACC/SEC Challenge, an event that was swept by both Hokie teams. Carys Baker led the Hokies in scoring with 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting.

ACC > SEC Challenge pic.twitter.com/YVPaPInKrB

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) December 5, 2025

Virginia Tech (7-2) got off to a hot start to this game. In just over three minutes of game time, the Hokies carved out a 10-2 advantage. Florida (8-2) was forced to call a timeout to regroup and regain its composure. That decision very much worked out for the Gators.

Following the timeout, the Gators looked like a completely different team. In just a couple minutes, Florida knotted the game at 10 thanks to a couple turnovers by Virginia Tech.

After the first quarter, the score was deadlocked at 19. The Gators finished the quarter on a 17-9 run after the timeout. 

Florida’s star player, Liv McGill, who was third in the nation in scoring coming into the game, was the focal point of the Gators’ offense. In the first quarter alone, she had 11 points, leading all scorers. By halftime, she had 19 points, shooting 7-for-15 from the field. She finished the game with 30 points, shooting 11-for-26 from the field. Despite thriving from the field,, she also turned the ball over 10 times, leaving the door open for a narrow Hokies victory.

“I thought at times we were doing really well, and then you look at the stat sheet and she’s got 19 at half,” said head coach Megan Duffy. “I think the thing that helped us a little bit was her turnover. We tried to put as many bodies around her as we could to try and frustrate her.”

The second quarter was incredibly physical. Both teams were battling for position, leading to a pendulum-esque second quarter. The biggest lead of the quarter was five, when Florida went up 34-29 with just under two minutes.

The Hokies were able to respond and ended the half on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 34 going into the half.

The third quarter was still very back and forth, where neither team was able to gain a substantial lead. Baker led the Hokies in scoring in the third quarter, scoring nine. She finished the game with a double-double, securing 10 rebounds.

“I had a stretch of time where, I think mentally, I was just not having it, like I think I was a little bit frustrated with what I was doing,” said Baker. “I’ve just been talking with my teammates, and I think they’ve been encouraging me to keep shooting.”

Kilah Freelon, who leads the team in rebounding, found herself in foul trouble, which caused freshman forward Aniya Trent to play crucial minutes, particularly down the stretch. The true freshman rose to the challenge, scoring seven points, shooting 3-for-3 from the field and grabbing five rebounds in 16 minutes of play.

“[Trent] has not even reached the surface of her skill yet,” said Baker. “For her to come in and do that was huge for us.”

Coach Duffy was impressed with the freshman’s effort, as well.

“I thought Aniya defensively was really good,” said Duffy. “She’s very smart as a freshman. “She knows the game plan. She understands the game really well.”

Virginia Tech found itself down a point going into the fourth quarter. Despite being down, the Hokies banded together and were able to outscore the Gators 17-12 in the final 10 minutes.

With eight seconds left, the Hokies were up 67-64. Florida quickly fouled right after making a layup and sent Mackie Nelson to the line to potentially put the game away for Virginia Tech. She missed the first free throw but swished the second one to put Virginia Tech up two possessions with minimal time left in the game.

“I’ll definitely have some sort of punishment for missing that free throw,” said Nelson. “But when it came down to it, I ended up knocking down the second one, so that was good.”

The game clock then expired and the Hokies were victorious in a very physically demanding game. Veterans like Baker showed up, but freshmen like Trent stepped up to help shoulder the load, making it a complete victory for Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech will begin conference play on Sunday, as it takes on the Duke Blue Devils at 2:00 PM EST at Cassell Coliseum. Coverage for the game will be on ESPN2.