Virginia Tech Women's Basketball: 5 Takeaways From The Hokies Loss to Iowa
1.Turnovers And Points Inside
The Hokies turned the ball over 18 times, allowing Iowa to score 20 points off of turnovers, The Hokies allowed many points inside the paint tonight, allowing 44 of Iowa's 71 points to come inside the paint.
2. Inefficient Shooting
Three-point shooting was a bit of a struggle for the Hokies, as they shot 22% from deep and 35% from the floor. The Hokies struggled to get it going again in the second half led to an Iowa 19-2 run to start the second half and they never recovered after this.
3. Foul Trouble
Virginia Tech struggled with fouling in this one, committing 17 team fouls, and stars Carleigh Wenzel, and Rose Micheaux both had to come out early in the third quarter as a result of having three fouls which contributed to an Iowa run.
4. Players Are Growing Into Roles
Compared to last year's team, players are being forced into new roles rather than being able to rely upon former stars Liz Kitley, Cayla King, and Georgia Amoore. We've seen Carleigh Wenzel go from averaging 17 minutes a game last year to 21 this year and Carys Baker go from 11 minutes a game last year to 29 minutes this year. Tonight's game was the first time we saw the team go through growing pains with these increased minutes but the pace they played with was encouraging to say the least.
5. Defense
The Hokies defense was a bit of a question mark tonight, as they allowed Iowa to go on a 19-2 run in the second half to pull away. Lucy Olsen got to her spots with ease tonight scoring 20 points, and was able to score with ease, Addison O'Grady who didn't miss a shot on her season-high 18 points tonight.
Additional Links:
Virginia Tech Women's Basketball: 5 Takeaways From Virginia Tech's Win vs UNC Wilmington
Virginia Tech Basketball: Everything From the Hokies Women's Basketball Team at the ACC Tipoff
Virginia Tech Basketball: 2024-2025 Men's Basketball Season Preview
Kahlil McCuller joined the Sports Illustrated team in summer 2024 and is a Sports Media major at Virginia Tech. Covering College Baseball, College Basketball, and College Football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Prior to this Kahlil worked pregame radio shows for Virginia Tech Basketball teams on 105.3 The Bear and started his own basketball podcast on Spotify called "Fleeky Hoops Podcast" and covered March Madness for the Hokies Women's Basketball team back in March 2024. My favorite sports teams are: Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Chargers, Virginia Tech Hokies and PSG for Soccer