Virginia Tech Beats Ohio State to Claim First Final Four!
Virginia Tech Beats Ohio State to Claim First Final Four!
The Hokies win the regional championship with an 84-74 victory over Ohio State.
For the first time in school history, the Virginia Tech Hokies have reached a women’s Final Four! It’s time to put some respect on Virginia Tech’s name. What feels like the forgotten team in this NCAA tournament continues to impress defeating opponent after opponent.
This team hasn’t been here before. That doesn’t matter. In the Seattle 3 Regional, Virginia Tech took down two powerhouse schools in Tennessee and Ohio State.
Diminutive Australian point guard Georgia Amoore and 6’6” Center Elizabeth Kitley led the Hokies to an 84-74 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Game Recap
Elizabeth Kitley kicked a pass out to Kayana Traylor who knocked down a three-pointer for the game’s first shot. Eboni Walker was able to drive into the lane to score Ohio State’s first basket.
The Hokies made their first seven field goal attempts before missing a shot including three from beyond the three-point arc. This helped them get out to a 17-10 lead less than halfway through the first quarter.
Both teams were red hot to start this game. Ohio State battled back making six of their first eight shots to cut the deficit to three at 17-14. A few plays later, Taylor Mikesell drilled another three-pointer to tie the game at 19-19.
Ohio State took their first lead with about 90 seconds left in the opening frame at 23-22. At the end of the first period, Ohio State extended their lead to 25-22 on a Jacy Sheldon turn-around jumper from inside the paint. Taylor Mikesell led the Buckeyes with nine points. While Virginia Tech’s, Cayla King, matched her with nine points of her own in the first quarter.
Both teams played evenly through the first few minutes of the second quarter. Georgia Amoore went down with an injury. She would return and knock down a three-pointer to put the Hokies back up 31-29. The Buckeyes would respond with a 7-0 run.
Taylor Soule converted an AND1 to put Virginia Tech back on top at 42-41.
The Virginia Tech Hokies reclaim the lead 48-45. Cayla King leads them with 12 points. Elizabeth Kitley added 10 and Taylor Soule with 11 points. Mikesell led the Buckeyes with 19 points. Jacy Sheldon and Cotie McMahon each contributed with 10 points in the first half.
Both teams shot the ball incredibly well. Ohio State shot 64% (18-28 FG) and Virginia Tech made 55% (16-29 FG) of their shots. Tech was a perfect 10-10 from the Free Throw line while the Buckeyes made 4-5.
Elizabeth Kitley had her best play of the Seattle tournament as she battled down low through contact and finished the layup while getting fouled. She made the free throw to complete the three-point play. This put the Hokies up six 55-49.
Over the final three minutes of the third quarter, Virginia Tech finished on an 8-2 run. Georgia Amoore scored five of those points including drilling a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Hokies up 63-55.
Tech pushed their lead to double-digits at 67-57 just 90 seconds into the 4th quarter forcing Ohio State to take another timeout. The Buckeyes were unable to cut into the deficit as they continued to trail by double-digits for most of the 4th quarter.
Ohio State made one last push late in the game in the final minute. Taylor Mikesell drilled her 7th three-pointer of the game to cut the lead back down to six at 80-74. At that point, it became a game of free throws. Virginia Tech made four more free throws to seal the victory, 84-74.
Live by the Press, Die by the Press
On Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to dominate the UConn Huskies with an aggressive full-court press and trapping defense. They forced Connecticut into 25 turnovers. UConn was flustered. They were completely taken out of their game. The press overwhelmed them.
Monday night was a completely different story. Virginia Tech only committed 13 turnovers. Including just six turnovers in the 2nd half where Ohio State really tried to increase their full-court pressure as the Buckeyes continued to trail late into the game.
Ohio State Coach Kevin McGuff talked to the media about why the press simply wasn’t effective against Virginia Tech.
“They’re good with Amoore. She’s tough to keep in front. She’s able to split it. We were a bit tired. We used so much energy (against UConn). We were slow to get some of our spots.” stated Coach McGuff.
From Virginia Tech’s perspective, they weren’t concerned.
"I didn’t think the press was a factor all game long. Mikesell was hot earlier on. In the 2nd half, we locked in and did the job we needed to do… We watched film to see how other teams had handled it. UConn tried to pass out of the press. We thought Georgia would be able to dribble out of it, especially because we would set screens for her and she would get to be one-on-one against her defender.” said Coach Kenny Brooks
Taylor Soule praised her teammate’s ability to handle Ohio State’s pressure.
“We knew going into the game if we could beat the press. They would back off of it. I don’t know how Georgia does it. I sit here in awe watching her sometimes.” Soule added.
The Buckeyes simply weren’t able to cause havoc and force turnovers like they did on Saturday. More often than not, it resulted in Virginia Tech getting easy layups. That’s the big gamble with running full-court press, especially at the college and pro level when the players are highly skilled. An effective press can swing the momentum in your favor. But if you aren’t able to get those steals or force your opponent into turnovers you leave yourself vulnerable on the back end. Teams that can take advantage and beat the press can score quickly and often.
What got Ohio State into the Elite 8 is a big reason why they aren’t headed to the Final Four.
Additional Impressions on Draft Prospects
Elizabeth Kitley - Virginia Tech
She certainly helped her stock some. Although in the first half, there were still a lot of moments where she didn’t look great and would create some serious doubts if I was a WNBA General Manager. She had 10 points but four turnovers in the first half. Once again, it felt like she was getting bodied and pushed around down in the paint. And these weren’t elite WNBA-type players she was going against. That was definitely a red flag.
With that said, Kitley really put forth an incredible 2nd half. She scored 15 of her 25 points in the final two quarters. She pulled down nine of her 12 rebounds and had all three of her blocks in the 2nd half. In the first half, she was beaten to the rim by 5’10” Jacy Sheldon multiple times. But over the final two quarters, she finally started protecting the rim. A plus as that’s something she’s going to need to be able to do if she is able to stick with a team in the WNBA.
I still don’t think I’d take her with my first-round pick but she’d be worth taking a chance on in the 2nd round.
Taylor Mikesell - Ohio State
Like Kitley, Mikesell had a much better game on Monday than the performance she had on Saturday. She was Ohio State’s leading scorer against Virginia Tech as she lit up the scoreboard for 25 points. She made 8-15 shots including 7-11 FG from beyond the three-point arc.
Unlike Kitley, she did most of her damage in the first half. That’s where she scored 19 points and made 5-6 shots from three. In the second half, she has mostly held in check scoring just six points on a 2-8 FG shooting.
My biggest issue with Mikesell if you’re looking at her WNBA future is the two games she played in Seattle, she didn’t have any real impact on the game except for her scoring. And in the first game, that wasn’t very much at all (nine points).
On Monday night, Mikesell had zero rebounds and zero assists in the game. Against UConn, she had zero assists and just one rebound.
If you need a shooter, maybe you take her in the 2nd round but I’d still lean 3rd round at best.
Jacy Sheldon - Ohio State
I thought Sheldon was pretty impressive overall in both her games on Saturday and Monday. She finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, and five assists against UConn. Jacy followed that up with 19 points and five rebounds against Virginia Tech.
Overall she shot 50% (7-14 FG) but she did go 0-3 on all three of her three-point attempts. Unfortunately, she did have just one assist and four turnovers which isn’t great for a point guard.
Jacy was asked about her future after the game and she had this to say.
“I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve mostly been focused on these games and trying to win. We had a great team. We’re going to build off of that. It sucks that we’re losing Taylor. She’s such a great player.”
She has a very slight frame which I have some concern about the next level. But because this WNBA Draft is lacking in talent (with so many players going back to college), if Sheldon does declare for the draft I could see her being selected either late in the first round or early in the second round.