Hokies gutted out a conference road win Thursday night

Tech has open date this weekend before final six games of the regular season

February 2, 2018

BLASCKSBURG – An exhausted, yet thrilled Kenny Brooks put on a headset for a postgame interview with Andrew Allegretta at the scorer’s table minutes after his team defeated Syracuse 73-64 inside the Carrier Dome, a building that had been a fortress.

Following the victory, the Hokies sit at 4-6 in the conference, matching last season’s win total with six games remaining.

“It wasn’t always pretty, we didn’t always execute the way we wanted to, but the grit that they displayed throughout the basketball game, I was very proud,” Brooks said of his players’ effort Thursday. “That’s something that we’ve been pushing for, expecting and asking for out of them.”

The Hokies took the lead for good after Kendyl Brooks’ 3-pointer with 7:12 in the third quarter. Brooks scored in double figures for the first time in nine games, finding the shooting stroke that has taken her up to seventh all-time at Tech in made triples.

Chanette Hicks came off of the bench, making an immediate impact with a steal and lay in at the other end and providing her customary pressure on ‘Cuse’s ball handlers.

“Chanette played well throughout the game, she really was a sparkplug for us,” Brooks said.

Hicks sealed the game with a layup with 47 ticks left, putting the Hokies up by six. She finished the game with 18 points, two assists and three steals.

“We stuck with it and gritted it out and played hard and I’m just very proud of these kids,” Brooks said. “We even did it without Regan for a 12-minute stretch. We told them at halftime we got a secret weapon coming out, that’s a fresh Regan Magarity and she came out and did a really good job.”

Magarity, who was forced to sit with early foul trouble, recorded another double-double, her 11^th of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Tech’s defense held the Orange to just 30.8 percent from the field, which included a staggering 8 of 43 from beyond the arc.

“I think the biggest thing we did was really contained their point guard (Tiana Mangakahia),” Brooks said. “We made her work for everything and I think we wore her down a little bit and as a result they just really weren’t in sync.”

Mangakahia finished with 16 points on 19 field goals and 13 assists, but also turned the ball over five times.

Tech became the first team all season to defeat the Orange in the Carrier Dome, breaking a streak of 12 straight games and earning the Hokies’ first conference road win of the season.

“We are learning to win, you have to learn how to win as a program,” Brooks said. “You don’t just put together a collection of kids with a new coach and a new system and a different expectation and expect them to win.

The Hokies have an open date this upcoming weekend, before hitting the hardwood next for a matchup with North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Wednesday Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.

Tech will return home to Cassell Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 11 to take on Virginia at 2 p.m.

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