Georgia Amoore Racks Up 29 Points, No. 19 Virginia Tech Takes Down No. 22 Syracuse 75-62
No. 19 Virginia Tech (16-4, 7-2 ACC) stood firm against No. 22 Syracuse (17-3, 7-2 ACC) Sunday afternoon in the JMA Wireless Dome and took care of the Orange by a final score of 75-62.
Just passing the halfway mark through conference play, both teams were sitting pretty at the top of the ACC standings, with Syracuse sitting in the one spot, and Virginia Tech not far behind in fourth place. Now, things look a little different at the top and are just a bit more congested as teams are starting to find their rhythms.
Speaking of finding rhythm, Georgia Amoore certainly has found hers, notching 13 points in the first quarter and ending the contest with 29, just two shy of her season high scored during the early season loss vs. No. 3 Iowa.
The Hokies jumped out to an early 23-9 lead after the end of the first, but the Orange quickly stormed back and, at one point in the second, had a stretch of shooting 8-for-8 from the field, which got them back to within two.
Amoore, who picked up two fouls in the first, had to sit the whole second quarter, which allowed Syracuse to climb back into the game while the Hokies were trying to make up for their loss of most of their scoring thus far into the game.
The third quarter opened with both teams not scoring until a Georgia Wooley layup at the 7:10 mark. The Orange would once again get close to the lead, getting within one of the Hokies, but Tech continued to fight back and push the lead back up to ten and held on from there on out, stealing a much-needed ranked conference win on the road.
Both teams leading scores on the season in Elizabeth Kitley and Dyaisha Fair could not find theirs, as both weren’t their usual selves.
The shots Kitley would normally be drilling just did not go down, as she scored only six points on 3-for-13 from the field, including five turnovers and four fouls.
Fair, who had scored 22+ points in her last three contests, put up 16 points vs. the Hokies. The scoring was still there for her, but shooting 6-for-15 and 3-for-8 from three isn’t great production from the lead guard for the Orange.
The rest of the guard play in this game, though, was exceptional and created a very entertaining matchup through and through.
Virginia Tech’s Matilda Ekh and Cayla King combined for eight made threes and 27 points and did sensational in a game where they drew more defense because of the lack of scoring coming from inside the paint.
Another Georgia that played very well was the one wearing orange and white. Georgia Wooly lit up the stat sheet, putting up 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals. In arguably one of her best games of the season, her production just wasn’t enough to get the victory.
Last but not least, Olivia Summiel did her thing once again down low, grabbing 12 boards for the Hokies and contributing to many second-chance opportunities for her team. The production coming from Summiel has been a beautiful sight to see and provides hope moving forward.
Up next for Virginia Tech is a Commonwealth Clash against UVA in Cassell Coliseum. The game is set for a 6:00 PM tip-off on February 1st, with coverage on the ACC Network.
