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Virginia Falls At No. 17 Virginia Tech, 76-63, in First Commonwealth Clash

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BLACKSBURG Va. – In front of its second-ever sold out crowd, No. 17 Virginia Tech (17-4, 8-2 ACC) defeated Virginia 76-63 at Cassell Coliseum Thursday evening (Feb. 1) in the first of two Smithfield Commonwealth Clashes this season. The Hokies outrebounded UVA, which entered Thursday’s contest as the ACC’s leader in rebounding, 47-31, and outscored the Cavaliers 17-5 in the third quarter.

Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the Hokies in their fourth consecutive win, and fifth straight in the series.

Virginia’s Kymora Johnson led the Cavaliers with 22 points on 7-of-20 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Paris Clark also scored in double figures with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting and led the Hoos with eight rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
London Clarkson made the first bucket of the game on a reverse layup, but the Hokies took the lead for good on their next two possessions. Tech’s Georgia Amoore (20 pts, 14 ast) scored on a pick-and-roll play with six seconds left before Johnson received the inbound pass and threw up a shot to beat the buzzer, which trimmed VT’s lead to 21-18 as time expired. Johnson scored 12 of her 22 points on 4-of-10 shooting in quarter No. 1.

Edessa Noyan bookended the scoring for the Hoos in the second quarter as she recorded seven of her career-high nine points in period No. 2. With help of Noyan, the Cavaliers totaled 14 points from their bench in the second. However, Kitley tallied 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the quarter, which helped the Hokies seize a 10-point lead [36-26] with 5:24 to play in the first half.  An and-1 by Noyan cut Hokies’ lead to 44-41 with 1:17 to play, but Kitley’s fifth field goal of the quarter put Tech up 46-41 at the half.

The Hokies took control of the game in the third, embarking on a 14-2 run to open the second half. Tech ultimately held the Cavaliers to just five points in the third as UVA shot just 2-of-14 from the field and was outrebounded, 16-8. The Hokies led 63-46 at the end of three.

With a pair of free throws in the fourth, Johnson notched her fourth 20-point scoring output of the season. Three of her 20-point games have been in the Cavaliers’ last four games. UVA outscored the Hokies 17-13 in the fourth, but its 19-point deficit was too much to overcome. Clark posted eight of her 18 points the fourth.

NOTES

  • Edessa Noyan scored a career-high nine points in 29 minutes of action, also a career high. Noyan has played in at least 16 minutes of action in UVA’s last four games.
  • Virginia was outrebounded for just the sixth time this season.
  • With 22 points, Kymora Johnson led the Hoos in scoring for the fifth straight game. It also marked her fourth 20-point performance of the season.
  • Paris Clark finished with 18 points, one shy of tying her career high.
  • With the win, the Hokies improved to 19-51 in the all-time series, which began in 1974. Tech has won the last five meetings.
  • Thursday’s contest marked the second-ever sold out crowd for a women’s basketball game in Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies reported 8,925 spectators in attendance.

UP NEXT
Virginia returns home to host Clemson (10-12, 3-7 ACC) on Sunday (Feb. 4) for the Cavaliers’ annual Play4Kay game. Tipoff from John Paul Jones Arena is set for 4 p.m. on ACC Network.

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