Going into their first ACC game of the New Year, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team faced a daunting task at Cassell Coliseum against Florida State. The Seminoles, who are not ranked, entered the game averaging 95 points a game.
If the Hokies were going to have any success and a chance to win the game, they would need to take care of the basketball and defend at a high level. Neither of those occurred and Virginia Tech dug themselves into a double-digit deficit with turnovers and points in the paint for FSU who cruised to the victory to drop Megan Duffy's team to 0-2 in conference play and 9-4 overall with a trip to Miami up next on Sunday. It was the fifth time this season that Florida State has scored over 100 points.
Florida State jumped out to a 31-21 lead after the first quarter and they took full advantage of Hokies turnovers. Five of their first-quarter field goals were layups off of turnovers. The Hokies found themselves down 52-38 at the half and the Seminoles blew the game open in the third quarter outscoring Tech 28-13 for an 80-51 lead.
Florida State, which scored 74 points in the paint, has so many players who can score and they were led by Ta'Niya Latson with 40 points, O'Mariah Gordon had 18 and Makayla Timpson finished with 16. For Virginia Tech, Rose Nicheaux had 16 points, Matild Ekh had 13, while Carleigh Wenzel and Carys Baker each had 12. Lani White also finished in double figures with 10.
Nobody said it was going to easy this season for the Hokies and ACC play is going to be difficult on a nightly basis. A trip to Miami on Sunday is not going to be easy as Virginia Tech looks for their first ACC win of the campaign.