No. 11 Virginia Tech Falls to No. 21 Florida State in the Fourth
No. 11 Virginia Tech was upset by No. 21 Florida State on the road 89-81, the Hokies first loss since facing No. 7 LSU in late November.
Florida State came out of the tipoff steaming with a quick triple from Sara Bejedi. The Seminoles proceeded to rack up 21 points in the first five minutes, draining almost every shot they took. Bejedi led with 12 during the stretch, scorching the net whenever she touched the ball. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, missed several threes, digging a startling 21-11 hole off the rip.
FSU finally cooled off a bit after making some subs, going scoreless for a few minutes, but the Hokies couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. They only put up four points during the drought, and before they knew what hit them Bejedi was putting two more up from free throws.
The Hokies started turning it around in the second with Matilda Ekh on the floor, hitting three big ones from deep to bring the game within reach. Once again though, Tech would go cold alongside the Seminoles, the two teams scoring a combined seven points over four minutes. Another missed opportunity from a tough shooting stretch.
Liz Kitley, Cayla King, and Carys Baker finally broke the game open with three minutes in the half. Kitley’s three buckets plus one from downtown for both King and Baker took the Hokies into the locker room with a six-point advantage.
Q3 was another hot one for FSU, shooting 60% from 3PT and nearly 70% from the field. Bejedi found the basket a few more times to bring her total to 24, while Makayla Timpson and Ta’Niya Latson combined for 10.
Kitley, already with 14, finally took control for VT in the third, putting up 10 on her own to fend off the chasing Seminoles by one going into the final quarter.
The fourth opened much like the others, Bejedi pulling from three to take a two-point lead. Timpson followed with a pair of layups, and O’Mariah Gordon hit her third from deep to kick off the disappointing finish.
The Seminoles would continue to score, mainly thanks to Latson, who put up 11 in the fourth alone. The Hokies put up a few early with Georgia Amoore and Kitley finding the net but went dead-silent from 3:30 to 0:38, and by then it was too late. Kitley would make a layup for her 30th and King hit her two free throws, but FSU came out on top 89-81.
Kitley continued her sizzling 2024 with 30-12-5 with two blocks. She’s averaging nearly 29 PPG in January. Ekh had 14 points, shooting 4-6 from 3PT. Amoore had 13 points and eight assists, and Rose Micheaux finished with 12.
Virginia Tech will try to get back in the win column at Duke (10-5, 2-2 ACC) on Thursday at 8 p.m.
