With two games remaining in the regular season ahead of the ACC Tournament next month, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team began a two-game road trip at Boston College on Thursday night. Entering the game in Charlie Creme's bracketology, the Hokies were the last team in the NCAA Tournament field with little room for error.
Virginia Tech's defense has been hit or miss this season and that was the case again in front of a small gathering of fans at Conte Forum. The Hokies have had games defensively where they struggle to defend (Syracuse) and games where they lock down (Virginia). They allowed BC to get some early confidence with 32 first-quarter points and despite coming up with some stops later in the game, offensive rebounds and losing Rose Micheaux (ejected in the third quarter) proved to be too much to overcome.
The Hokies trailed 43-39 at the half, but began the second half strong and built a 60-53 lead before things bogged down offensively, and the Eagles hit the boards offensively. The Eagles led 73-70 when an intentional foul was called off an offensive rebound against BC. Carleigh Wenzel made both free throws and that triggered a run to give Tech a 79-77 lead before the Eagles tied the game late with a pair of free throws.
Despite a pair of Matilda Ekh 3-pointers in overtime, the Hokies were outscored 13-10 in suffering a devastating loss to the Eagles who improved to 6-11 in ACC play and qualified for the ACC Tournament when Kaylah Ivey drilled a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to break an 89-89 tie. That's the second loss this season to a team fighting to qualify for the ACC Tournament with Syracuse being the other.
Carys Baker tied her career-high with 24 points and she also grabbed eight rebounds. Wenzel had 19 points, Ekh 15 and Mackenzie Nelson had 11. The Hokies, which fell to 17-11 overall and 8-9 in the ACC, will close out the regular season Sunday at Clemson.