Through the first 20 minutes of their ACC battle, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team looked like a team that had not played in seven days. The last time the Hokies were on the court for a game, they dropped a hard-fought, 67-62, game at North Carolina.
In the opening half, Virginia Tech turned the ball over 12 times against Stanford at Cassell Coliseum, but their defense was good holding the Cardinal to 25 points for a seven-point halftime lead. In the second half, the Hokies built an 11-point lead, but thanks to turnovers and scoring droughts, they suffered a second-half meltdown as Stanford forced overtime tied at 63-63 before prevailing in the extra session.
This is a devastating loss for the Hokies, there is no other way to put it. Up 11 points in the second half at home, in a must-win for the NCAA Tournament against a team that had one true road win this season in the ACC, you have to win.
Rose Micheaux scored 17 of her 21 points in the second half while also collecting her seventh double-double with 13 rebounds. The problem in the second half was she got no help. Matilda Ekh finished with 18 points, but the problem was, that 11 of those were in the first quarter. Carleigh Wenzel had 17 points, with 10 of those coming from the free-throw line.
Empty possessions and turnovers were the name of the game for the Hokies. They turned the ball over 22 times and Stanford scored 22 points off of those turnovers. That is not going to win many, if any games, especially when you're struggling to get decent looks on the offensive end, never mind scoring.
Despite all of their mistakes, Virginia Tech took a 70-69 overtime lead on a Micheaux basket, but on the ensuing possession, Stanford Chloe Clardy drilled a 3-pointer when the Hokies failed to switch and she was left wide open. The Cardinal never trailed again up 72-70 and handing Tech their second straight home loss.
In the overall big picture, this is a devastating blow to Virginia Tech's NCAA Tournament hopes. On the bubble entering the game according to Charlie Creme of ESPN, they will likely fall out in his updated bracketology on Friday and they will have nobody to blame but themselves. They play their final regular season game on Sunday afternoon against California.