Virginia Tech Women's Basketball Rides Second-Half Surge to Rout of Wake Forest

The Hokies outscored Wake Forest, 51-24, in the final 20 minutes of ball.

Virginia Tech Athletics

After a shaky opening half, Virginia Tech women's basketball keyed in over the final 20 minutes and supplanted Wake Forest, 85-57, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Saturday afternoon. The victory was the Hokies' fifth straight; the team has not lost since Jan. 4 vs. Louisville.

The snow didn't bother us anyways! ❄️🎶 pic.twitter.com/xBkyUHBajO

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) January 24, 2026

"Really good road win, obviously short turnaround," said Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy on the Virginia Tech Sports Network to the team's play-by-play voice, Evan Hughes. "Took us a little bit to figure out how to guard their five-out actions and a ton of their movement, but much better adjustments by our team to talk a little bit better, be a little more physical. Held them to 11 and 13, which is really good."

Virginia Tech (16-5, 6-3 ACC) started the contest slow and by halftime, was only up by one over Wake Forest (12-9, 2-7 ACC). In that stretch, the Hokies took 38 shots, 10 more than the Demon Deacons' 28. However, Tech only made 14, one higher than Wake Forest's output. That changed in the second half, however, where the Hokies outscored the Demon Deacons, 51-24.

The Hokies erupted out to a quick 6-2 start. Wake Forest started the contest on a 6-for-9 shooting stretch, going on a 9-2 run and ending the first quarter up three.

Virginia Tech began the second quarter with a pair of triples to pull out in front, 18-15, with 7:30 remaining; however, it couldn't establish a concrete foothold and possessed a mere one-point lead at halftime, 34-33.

Stil, Tech was undaunted and took over in the third quarter. Guard Mackenzie Nelson was especially potent, scoring eight of her nine points in the third frame. The redshirt sophomore also logged five assists and two steals against the Demon Deacons, who suffered their sixth straight loss of the season and fifth straight to VIrginia Tech.

In the third quarter, Virginia Tech made a 14-2 run over the span of four and a half minutes, shooting 7-for-14 over the entirety of the frame. Tech also supplemented that charge with a 7-for-8 mark from the charity stripe; it was solid from the line, knocking down 10 of its 13 (76.9%) across the game.

"I just thought we were a step slow in that first half," Duffy said. "And then, I thought we really tightened up, made their shots way more difficult and we shared the ball so much better in the third and fourth quarter... We got hot from three-point land, which was really good."

In the fourth frame, Virginia Tech flexed its muscle, pulling away with a dominant final quarter. In the final 10 minutes, the Hokies outscored the Demon Deacons by a convincing 28-13 margin, boosted by a remarkable 8-for-11 mark from long range.

"We got them off of trusting equal opportunity," Duffy said. "We moved it and got [guard Carleigh Wenzel] some easy shot off of that, and they decided to stay into the zone. So, we just kept saying inside, outside touches."

Wenzel spearheaded Virginia Tech's fourth-quarter surge, contributing 12 points. Across the game, Wenzel logged 19 points, six assists and two steals. Forward Carys Baker led the Hokies' scoring efforts with a team-high 20 points, in addition to nine rebounds and three assists.

Where Tech excelled throughout the entirety of the game was in its facilitation. Of its 31 made baskets, the Hokies assisted on 25 of them, good for an 80.6% clip. Virginia Tech logged 25 assists to Wake Forest's 15, while forcing the Demon Deacons into 21 turnovers. Consequently, the Hokies outpaced Wake Forest in transition, especially late on, outscoring the Demon Deacons 21-9 on points off turnovers. Across the game, Virginia Tech logged a 2.27 assist-to-turnover ratio, while Wake Forest tallied a 0.71 mark.

The Hokies were dominant when it came to fast-break opportunities, as well, rolling up a 24-6 advantage; second-chance points were in the same realm, with a 24-6 margin in favor of Tech.

Virginia Tech gobbled up 41 rebounds to Wake Forest's 32; though the two teams both grabbed 26 defensive boards, the Hokies had a convincing 15-6 edge on the offensive glass.

The Hokies' victory over Wake Forest adds another notch into their belt. In their last five games, they've outscored their opponents by a combined 110 points, with four victories coming by 20-plus. In addition, Saturday's victory came in a contest that was moved forward a day due to expected incoming inclement weather.

By Tech's next game, vs. Pitt on Thursday, it will have gone over three weeks without a loss. As a result, the Hokies have moved all the way up to No. 5 in the ACC standings with a 6-3 mark in league play. They're now only behind Louisville (19-3, 9-0 ACC), Duke (14-6, 9-0 ACC), NC State (14-6, 7-2 ACC) and Syracuse (16-3, 6-2 ACC).

Virginia Tech lost to the Cardinals (85-60, Jan. 4) and Duke (70-54, Dec. 7); it defeated Syracuse (77-57, Jan. 8). The Hokies have yet to play NC State and will host the Wolfpack on Sunday, Feb. 8 (12 p.m., ACC Network).

Virginia Tech's next contest comes against Pittsburgh back in Blacksburg on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. ET. The contest will be available for viewing on ACC Network Extra as the Hokies look to claim their sixth straight victory of the 2025-26 campaign.