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GREENSBORO, N.C. - Vanessa Panousis set the single season three-pointer record as the Hokies downed Pittsburgh, 51-45, to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2015 ACC Women’s Basketball Championship at Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday evening.
“I’ve coached a lot of games in my career,” said head coach Dennis Wolff. “What these kids have done here toward the end of the season, I am just really, really proud of the way the ladies have played. I think we were smart against a good defensive team. We changed defenses at the end to try to limit [Brianna] Kiesel’s touches and I thought Kelsey Conyers did a real good job when that happened. Vanessa [Panousis] and Sidney [Cook] both made big plays, so it’s a real big win for our program.”
Panousis knocked down four three-balls to break the record set by Lindsay Biggs back during the 2008-09 season. Panousis now owns the mark with 74. In addition, Panousis set the record for three-pointers in an ACC Tournament game.
The sophomore led the Hokies (12-19) with 20 points while Sidney Cook posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Stasha Carey led Pittsburgh with 13 points. The Hokies held Pitt’s Kiesel, who is averaging 18.5 ppg this season, to just nine points.
Pitt (19-11) opened up the scoring two minutes into the game when Yacine Diop was fouled on the made lay-up. She made the ensuing free throw to give the Panthers the 3-0 lead. Hannah Young responded just a minute later with a three-pointer to level things up.
The Panthers would go on a 7-0 run from there, bringing the score to 10-3 with 11:43 left to play in the first half, but a pair of jumpers from Young and one from Panousis brought Tech back within one, 10-9, with 9:19 left to play in the opening stanza.
The two squads traded buckets back and forth with the Hokies ultimately coming out on top, 19-17, to end the half thanks to a Taijah Campbell tip in. At the break, Young led the Hokies with seven points while Panousis had five.
Tech came out of the locker room on fire as Cook laid one in and Panousis hit back-to-back three pointers to bring Tech’s lead to 27-18 with 18:13 left to play in the half.
Pittsburgh battled back to tie it up at 31 with 11:20 left to go, but the Hokies would use a 7-0 run to go on top 38-31 with 8:46 on the clock.
The Panthers would bring things as close as two with 3:28 remaining, but clutch free-throw shooting by the Hokies would ultimately end up with Tech winning 51-45.
Tech will be back in action tomorrow at 6 p.m. when the Hokies play Florida State in the quarterfinals of the 2015 ACC Women’s Basketball Championship.
“Florida State is one of the best teams in the country, so we’ll prepare for them like we have these last two games,” Wolff said. “It’s an enormous challenge, but for us, where we’re at with our team, to be here playing for a third night in the ACC Tournament is a great thing.”
For updates on Virginia Tech women's basketball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_WBBall
