Virginia Tech Women's Basketball Weekly Preview
No. 9 VT vs. Houston Christian | Thursday, November 16, 6:00 p.m. | Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
Houston Christian has had an awful start to the season. A 70-38 loss to Rice and a 67-65 loss to Sam Houston. The Rice game saw the whole team getting minutes, but in the close game against Sam Houston, the starters played nearly the whole time. No one on the bench played over nine minutes, this team belongs to the starting five as they don’t have great depth.
Liz Kitley is going to be a nightmare for the Huskies. At 6’6”, the highly skilled, experienced center is hard enough to guard for a ranked team. The Huskies have two 6’5” players combined for 25 minutes this season. If neither of them is guarding her, she’ll have a 4+ inch height advantage on a primarily younger team.
The depth and skill of a top-10 program should prove to be incredibly difficult for the Huskies to handle, especially on the road. This game will be a blowout.
No. 9 VT vs. UNC Greensboro | Monday, November 20, 6:00 p.m. | Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA
UNC Greensboro looks a bit tougher than Houston Christian through two games, but the Hokies should take this game easily as well. They’ve got a 6-point loss to Appalachian State and a blowout win over South Carolina State.
The team is led by a trio of upperclassmen, Jayde Gamble, Isys Grady, and Ayanna Khalfani. The three have scored 70 of Spartan’s 126 points through two games. Gamble appears to be the biggest deep shooting threat at 3-6 this year. Additionally, the roster has more depth as bench players get double-digit minutes.
Khalis Cain will likely be on Kitley as the Spartans’ starter down low. Cain has done a solid job keeping bigs from putting up large stat lines. Gamble, who has seven steals through the two games, will probably be on Georgia Amoore. While the two look good on defense, the difference between an App State guard/center and Georgia Amoore or Liz Kitley will be a true test of their skills. Even if they manage that tall task, the rest of the Hokies roster has the talent to take on this team without issue.
