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No. 17/16 Hokies outlast Wake Forest, 72-70
Hicks has career-high 29 points along with seven assists and two steals
January 16, 2017
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wake Forest (10-7, 1-3) | 15 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 70 |
 (17) Virginia Tech (16-1, 3-1) | 7 | 26 | 24 | 15 | 72 |
| |||||
BLACKSBURG – The No. 17/16 Virginia Tech women’s basketball team held off a late surging Wake Forest team to pick up the 72-70 win on Monday afternoon at Cassell Colisem. With the win, Tech improves to 16-1 on the season and 3-1 in the ACC.
The win marks the program’s best start in ACC play through the first four games. Previous bests were 2-2 in 2015-16, 2011-12 and 2004-05.
Chanette Hicks led the Hokies with a career-high 29 points on 13-of-23 from the field. In addition, Hicks handed out seven assists and tallied two steals. Sidney Cook added 15 points while Regan Magarity recorded her fifth consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a good win,” said head coach Kenny Brooks. “I think every coach would love to see their team perform to their capabilities and that’s all we’re asking of our team. Getting off to this great start has really raised our expectations of the kids. I thought we had a lot of ebbs and flows to this game, we started off a bit sluggish. Give Wake Forest credit they took us out of our rhythm a bit and we really didn’t find it until midway through the second quarter.”
The Hokies struggled on the offensive side to start the game, connecting on just 12.5 percent from the field in the opening frame. Wake Forest held the advantage at the end of the quarter, leading Tech 15-7.
Tech fell behind by 13 early in the second quarter as the Hokies called timeout, trailing 22-9 with 7:37 on the clock. The Hokies answered in a big way, going on a 15-0 run highlighted by four consecutive fast break layups from Hicks. The run gave Tech its first lead of the game as the Hokies went on top 24-22 with 3:40 to go. Wake Forest reclaimed the advantage two minutes later to go up 30-26, but the Hokies closed out the half with a 7-0 run to take a 33-30 lead into the break.
The Hokies extended their lead in the third quarter, opening with a 13-6 run to go up 46-36 off another Hicks layup with 5:49 to go. Tech maintained the advantage as Wake was never able to get closer than eight in the third quarter. Heading into the final frame, the Hokies hit two early baskets to take their largest lead of the game on top 61-45 early in the fourth. Wake climbed back into it, going on a 15-2 run to cut it to 63-60 with 5:29 to play. The two teams traded baskets the rest of the way as neither team was able to get a late run going. Tech went 3-of-4 from the line in the final minute to help secure the win.
Wake Forest (10-7, 1-3 ACC) dominated on the boards, grabbing 56 rebounds to the Hokies’ 36 and had 22 second-chance points to Tech’s eight. The Hokies had the advantage inside though with 40 points in the paint to 26 for the Deacs. After a rough first quarter, the Hokies ended up shooting 40.6 percent from the field while holding Wake to 33.8 percent. Tech turned the ball over just six times, tying the program record for lowest amount of turnovers in game.
The Hokies will return to the court on Thursday, Jan. 19 when they travel to No. 15 Duke. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
For updates on Virginia Tech women's basketball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_WBBall
