As the Blue Devils walked into Cassell Coliseum Thursday night in Blacksburg, Va., they had high hopes of continuing their win streak in an already remarkable season. After Duke picked up a 66-55 win against Virginia Tech three short weeks ago, the Hokies might have been another stepping stone to the ACC crown. However, the visitors seemed to forget the unfortunate reality of being on top—the only way to go is down.
Despite a late fourth-quarter surge by No. 9 Duke, No. 11 Virginia Tech stormed past the Blue Devils in a 61-45 rout, turning heads from all over the ACC. For their part, the Hokies had big 20-point performances from junior Georgia Amoore and senior Elizabeth Kitley. Meanwhile, Duke’s top performer was senior Celeste Taylor, who was the only Blue Devil player to reach double figures with 12 points.
“I think they were just very aggressive,” said head coach Kara Lawson. “We just weren’t our normal selves defensively, and they had a lot to do with it.”
The theme of Duke’s night was simply too little, too late. After three quarters of struggling to break down a stringent Virginia Tech defense, the Blue Devils (22-4, 12-3 in the ACC) finally broke through to outscore the Hokies (21-4, 11-4) in the final frame 19-10. Nonetheless, coming back from a 26-point deficit is nearly impossible for the best of teams. Fighting until the bitter end, Lawson’s squad just could not put in a full-game performance.
From the moment the whistle blew at tipoff, it was clear that Duke had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Even though it struck first with a layup from Taylor, Virginia Tech responded with an 8-0 run to take the lead early on. Once the Hokies took over, they got to work steamrolling the Blue Devils: Holding Duke to 11 points in the first quarter, Virginia Tech’s passing game and ability to take advantage of mismatches in the paint led the home team to a 23-11 advantage.
The Hokies continued to retain their monumental lead, but both teams began to struggle. With not a lot of offensive production from either side, defense was the name of the game. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, Virginia Tech knew how to lock them down, with Taylor scoring the visitors’ only bucket of the second quarter off of a layup. Just minutes in, it seemed like Duke was running out of steam, and the box score showed it. Heading into the locker room 6-of-25 from the field and 1-of-11 in the second quarter, it just was not the Blue Devils’ night.
“When you’re playing good teams, those opportunities for easy baskets don’t come very often and you really need to capitalize on them,” said Lawson.
Coming out of the locker room for another 20 minutes of play, the situation still looked bleak in the third quarter as the roar of Hokie fans became even more deafening. Duke struggled to cover the glass and keep Virginia Tech players from dominating in the paint. Even when the Blue Devils were able to get good looks, the Hokies continued to throttle them with strong defensive play that managed to keep junior center Kennedy Brown off the scoreboard until the waning minutes. Virginia Tech’s lockdown defense came in large part due to graduate student Taylor Soule, whose aggressive play and tireless work ethic translated to one block and three steals.
“I thought Soule was very aggressive, attacking us defensively, and we just didn’t handle it,” said Lawson. “We weren’t as disciplined as we normally are on that end.”
Duke’s night was largely defined by its inability to finish and score on the offensive end while also struggling to keep the Hokies off the glass on defense. The one bright spot in a dark and stormy Blue Devil night was the performance of Taylor, whose experience and communication were among the only sparks on the blue side of the floor.
“I thought she was the one that [we had] in that first half,” said Lawson. “She was competing defensively. She was communicating. She was trying to get everybody on the same page.”
Duke will look to Taylor and the rest of its roster as it travels to Charlottesville, Va., for a showdown with Virginia at 2 p.m Sunday.
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Mackenzie Sheehy is a Trinity junior and associate editor for The Chronicle's 120th volume.