Following a good start in the first quarter, the Falcons women’s basketball team struggled against a red-hot shooting display the rest of the way against the undefeated Virginia Tech Hokies. The Falcons would suffer their worst loss of the season on the road by a score of 98-51.
Leading the way for the Falcons was sophomore guard Carly Santoro with 9 points, 7 rebounds and a steal. Also helping out was sophomore guard Sydney Lambert with 8 points and 3 rebounds.
The Falcons got the early lead by a score of 12-5 following two layups by Santoro and a three by Lambert. However, Virginia Tech would respond with a 13-5 run and took the lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter. The Falcons would strike in the closing seconds of the first quarter following a late three by Santoro, and the Falcons lead by a score of 20-18.
The Hokies didn’t waste time putting points on the board as they jumped out to a 12-0 run that gave them a 30-20 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half. The Falcons struggled on offense as they were held to just 7 points in the second quarter. The Hokies would go score more runs as they put up 29 points on the Falcon’s defense, and the Falcons trailed big going into halftime by a score of 47-27.
Going into the third quarter, the Hokies went on a 7-2 run and were dominating the Falcons in fast breaks and in the paint. The Falcons forced too many turnovers in the third and would fail to cut into the deficit in the third quarter.
Virginia Tech kept pounding inside the paint with easy layups and would go on an 8-1 run in the closing seconds of the third quarter. The Falcons would still trail going into the fourth quarter by a score of 70-39.
For the third straight quarter, the Hokies got off to a fast start on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Virginia Tech would go to the free throw line multiple times in the fourth quarter, and the Falcons couldn’t quite put the ball in the basket as Falcons head coach Jennifer Roos sent the rest of the bench to the game. Virginia Tech would eventually go on to win and remain undefeated in the season.
“Honestly the first 15 minutes were solid for us,” Roos said. “We could tell we were giving them confidence and we played our traditional defense. We also gave up a lot of wide open shots and we were unable to make shots ourselves. Give credit to Virginia Tech they’re undefeated for a reason.”
The team went 19-66 on field goal attempts and also turned the ball over 14 times.
The Falcons will not play until next weekend due to exam week. They will be on the road once again as they take on the South Dakota Jackrabbits on Sunday at noon.
