NCAAW: No. 8 Virginia Tech Hokies capture their first ACC championship

Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley combined for 45 points as the No. 8 Virginia Tech Hokies defeated the Louisville Cardinals 75-67 to capture the first ACC championship (regular-season or tournament) in program history.

Virginia Tech had the best overall winning percentage of any team in the ACC this year. Led by the ACC Player of the Year in Elizabeth Kitley, the Hokies looked like the best team throughout the tournament, stifling the Miami Hurricanes and Duke Blue Devils en route to a dominant win over the Cards in the championship game.

For a team that was known for their dynamic offense all year, it was the Hokies’ defense that helped carry them to wins in this tournament. First, they held Miami to 42 points on below 25 percent shooting from the field. Even in a game where Virginia Tech didn’t shoot well themselves, they were able to contain Haley Cavinder and the Hurricanes by forcing them into contested shots.

Against a Duke team that was historically good on defense this year, it was timely and efficient shooting from beyond the arc that helped deliver the Hokies the victory along with more stifling defense. Duke struggled offensively all year so it’s hard to tell how much of that was excellent game-planning by Virginia Tech, but the most impressive part of the game was Georgia Amoore scoring 24 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three. The Hokies shot 9-of-17 (53 percent) from three as a team.

In the championship game, Kenny Brooks and the Hokies made a conscious effort to feed Kitley the ball early on, as she scored the first six points of the game, all coming from the short corner in isolation against Louisville’s bigs. Louisville came out aggressive early and after the game was tied at 14, the Hokies would go on a 7-0 run to end the first quarter. They would take the lead from that point on and never look back.

Louisville will likely look back at this game and feel there were missed opportunities to make a comeback. Late in the second quarter, the Cardinals committed two questionable fouls when the lead was within six points. The Hokies would make their free throws and enter halftime leading 38-28. It wasn’t insurmountable considering the experience Louisville has, but Kenny Brooks and the Hokies are disciplined as well considering they entered this game 21-0 when leading at halftime.

Louisville played its best quarter in the third, cutting the lead to seven thanks to big plays by Chrislyn Carr, who not only played like…