Women's ACC Tourny vs Miami Mar 4 at 6 PM

I thought I would just revive this thread for the tournament game. The info is recent enough to be applicable. I did not update much. Miami finished the season 11-10 and 8-10 in the ACC.

The Lady Hokies play at 6PM tonight in Greensboro. The game is on the Regional Sports Network channels with play by play by Tom Wermi and analysis by Debbie Antonelli; with Kelly Deyo courtside. Bryant Johnson will have the play by play on the VT Radio Network.

Tech beat Miami handily in Miami on Feb 11. The final score was 75-55. Coach Brooks played a lot of zone defense with Kitley in the middle stopping the Miami drives to the basket. The strategy was effective. Miami shot 38% overall and was not able to take advantage from beyond the arc, only shooting 25%.

Kitley and Sheppard had 19 points and Amoore had 17. Kitley had 11 rebounds and Amoore had 5 assists. I think stopping the dribble drive and not letting Miami get easy shots from outside will lead to a Tech win. They will need to play better than they did against UNC in the second half of their last game. Hopefully Sheppard is a full go for this game after tweaking an ankle against UNC in the first half; she played a little in the second half, but did not score.

Everything below here is the write up for the Feb 11 game.

Miami has dominated the series 21-8; but the Hokies have won the last two. Miami coach Katie Meier won her 300th game at Miami last week with a 68-53 defeat of in-state rival FSU in Miami. Miami is 8-7 overall and 5-7 in ACC play with wins against UNC, Clemson, UNC, Pittsburgh and FSU. They have losses to Syracuse, NC State, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Louisville and GA Tech.

Miami is an experienced team. There is only one sophomore in the top eight players; and only one freshman has played at all this year. Three of the top eight are transfers, with two playing in their first year at Miami. They don't have anyone to match Kitley in height except 6'4" freshman Nyayongah Gony, who only plays 11 min/game. There are also two sohpomores in 6'3" Sidney Roby and 6'3" Briana Jackson who play about 8.5 min/game each.

# 13 Taylor Mason 5'9" Senior Guard
28.5 min/game, 8.5 ppg, 34% and 24% from 3, 63% FT
5.2 rpg, 2.3 assists, 2.3 turnovers per game

#20 Kelsey Marshal 5'9" Senior Guard
29 min/game, 14.5 ppg, 36% and 29% from 3, 78% FT
3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 TO per game

#3 Destiny Harden, 6'0" R Junior Forward tranfer from WVU
19.5 min/game, 7.5 ppg, 40% and 31% from 3, 63% FT
4.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.6 TO per game

#35 Naomi Mbandu 6'2" Junior Forward transfer from Gulf Coast
25.1 min/game, 8.5 ppg, 48% and 35% from 3, 80% FT
4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 TO per game

#4 Endia Banks 5'9" Senior Guard
30.1 min/game, 10.1 ppg, 45% and 29% from 3, 54% FT
4.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 TO per game

#1 Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba 6'0" Sophomore Guard/Forward
19.9 min/game, 3.3 ppg, 25% and 18% from 3, 72% FT
3.6 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 0.7 TO per game

#25 Karla Erjavec 5'10" Junior Guard transfer from Wyoming
18.6 min/game, 3.3 ppg, 34% and 32% from 3, 0% FT
0.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 TO per game

In their last game against FSU, the first two quarters were close with FSU leading 24-22 at the half. In the second half, Miami destroyed FSU on lay ups. It seemed like FSU just forgot how to defend the drive. Miami had 48 points in the paint and 16 points on fast breaks. Kitley and company may have some influence in reducing Miami's effectiveness in this area. Miami was only 1 of 13 from 3 against FSU; and on the season are only 28% from 3. Kelsey Marshall is the only player who shoots a lot from 3 and she only shoots 29% from beyond the arc.

Season Stats:

As I always say at this point, I am nervous about saying this; but the Hokies should win this one. If I were Coach Brooks, I would concentrate on stopping the dribble drive and try to stay in front of my opponent on the screens to prevent the open lay ups. And with the height advantage the Hokies will have down low, I would encourage Kitley to switch to stop the drives; she seems to be pretty good at doing that without fouling.

Could say more; but the wife wants to go walk on the beach.

Go Hokies!