BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech played without All-American Elizabeth Kitley, out for the NCAA Tournament with a torn ACL, and still won by 43 points in its first-round game.
Baylor scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter and still won by 17 in its opener.
Both teams expect much stiffer tests when they meet Sunday night in a second-round matchup at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum.
The fourth-seeded Hokies (25-7) handled Marshall’s unorthodox full-court press with ease Friday, extending their home-court winning streak to a school-record 26 games with a 92-49 victory. They rode the emotion of an enthusiastic home crowd, committing just 15 turnovers, getting 17 points from Clara Strack, who started in place of Kitley, and seeing Matilda Ekh break out of a slump with 21 points.
Without their best player, the Hokies had lost three of four coming into the tournament.
“I feel like we’re not just playing against five players tomorrow,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said Saturday. “We’re playing against 10,005, because I think the energy in this building will be insane. I think the people here will take it very, very personally to help this team and really be kind of a sixth man because of what Kitley has meant to this program.”
Fifth-seeded Baylor (25-7), though, is used to playing in front of large crowds, and the Bears arguably are playing their best basketball of the season. They enter the game having won seven of their past eight, including an impressive 80-63 victory over Vanderbilt on Friday.
Baylor’s Bella Fontleroy shoots against Vanderbilt during the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the women’s NCAA Tournament in Blacksburg, Va., Friday, March 22, 2024. Credit: AP/Robert Simmons
Baylor features a versatile player in 6-foot forward Bella Fontleroy, who had 19 points and 11 rebounds Friday. Fontleroy can play multiple positions, and Virginia Tech lacks someone with the size and length to guard her.
Baylor also exploits teams on…
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