When the women's NCAA Tournament bracket was announced on Sunday night, Virginia Tech knew it got a difficult draw with Oregon out of the Big Ten. At 22-12, the Ducks are a team that had height, athleticism, and played suffocating defense. All of that was oin display on Friday afternoon and then some.
Oregon grabbed an 11-point lead through one quarter before the Hokies made a second-quarter run, but the Ducks took control of the game and delivered the knockout punch with an 18-0 run in the third quarter on their way to advancing to the second round on Sunday. Here are three takeaways from the Hokies season-ending loss that closed out Megan Duffy's second season in Blacksburg at 23-10.
Virginia Tech survives second quarter without Carleigh Wenzel and Carys Baker
Trailing 22-11 after the first quarter, it would have been easy for the Hokies to get run out of the building with Carleigh Wenzel and Carys Baker stuck on the bench with a pair of fouls. Instead, when the lead peaked at 13 for the Ducks, the Hokies turned up the pressure defensively and cut the deficit to three points.
Virginia Tech got back to moving the ball well offensively and taking charge defensively. They had Oregon frustrated and out of sorts offensively and defensively. All that went for not with a brutal start to the third quarter that saw the lead again ballon to double digits quickly.
Third quarter was a complete disaster
As well as the second quarter was, the third quarter was a disaster. Virginia Tech struggled with Oregon's pressure defense the whole game, and it went to another level after halftime. The Hokies had just two points through the first six-plus minutes.
The Ducks got out in transition after forcing missed shots and turnovers for easy buckets. They also separated by getting Virginia Tech into foul trouble and using an 18-0 run before a Mel Daley shot finally went in. Oregon just overwhelmed Virginia Tech for nearly the entire 40 minutes. It wasn't a good matchup for Tech.
Virginia Tech's scorers struggled
Through three quarters, the boxscore said it all for Virginia Tech. Yes, Oregon's defense had a lot to do with it, but some of the Hokies top scorers were shut down. Wenzel only had six points, and Baker had just four through 30 minutes. A lot of that had to do with sitting with foul trouble, but it also had to do with them struggling on the field. Daley led Tech with eight points through three quarters.
Baker exploded in the fourth quarter to finish with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Wenzel had nine and Daley had eight, while Kilah Freelon had five points and five rebounds.