The schedule for the season is out, and the ACC Women’s Basketball Tipoff is done. The Lady Hokies are finishing up their preseason practices and getting ready to take to the court for the new 2026-2027 effort.
October 19th the Lady Hokies take a trip to College Park Maryland for an exhibition game. This will be a very interesting opening test. Maryland puts
together good basketball teams every year, and this scrimmage will give us a good look at the revamped Lady Hokie roster.
The 2026-2027 Tipoff Crew
Coach Duffy took veteran Hokie Guard Carleigh Wenzel, and new Hokie Graduate Forward Alyssa Latham to Charlotte, NC for the ACC TipOff event from October 5th through the 7th. Of course, there were loads of press conferences and interviews.
Which brings to mind the need for a roster review because there are some changes on the team, and a bit of a different look to the height profile for the next push to March Madness.
Just note the special interviewer for one of the sessions with the Hokie representatives.
The Roster for 2026-2027
Until Congress finally acts, the transfer portal churn will continue. The Hokies sadly lost two favorites (and starters/primary bench players) to “free agency” at the end of last season. The “Connecticut Corner” disappeared out of the magic door. Carys Baker ended up moving to Louisville and Tech will face off against the Lady Cardinals on January 17th at Cassell. Mackenzie Nelson moved on to former Tech assistant coach Shawn Poppie’s Clemson Tigers to meet up with former Tech great and current Tiger Graduate Assistant Cayla King. The Hokies will face Clemson away, for that contest. Losing those two players was tough, and that meant Coach Duffy had to fill some holes.
Returning Hokies
Leading the Hokie returners is team leader and graduate student Guard (Shooting and Point) Carleigh Wenzel. Carleigh graduated from Tech after the 2024-2025 season and chose to remain a Hokie. Samyah Suffren and Leila Wells also return for their Senior and Junior years respectively. Suffren was pure tonic coming off of the bench with her speed and quick hands for defense. Wells provided solid shooting from the Guard position, and relief for the starters without falloff. Kate Sears is also back. She’s listed as a Sophomore, but that’s the new status. Kate had a foot injury that kept her in “redshirt” status for her Freshman season. She’s listed as full speed for this season. Forwards Aniya Trent and Amani Jenkins have elected to stay in Blacksburg and are expected to provide seriously needed height near the baseline for the Hokies. Both of them had excellent Freshman seasons and their success should continue.
The Transfers
As we saw for the TipOff, Coach Duffy reached into the portal for some critical needs as she lost both starters to graduation and the portal. (It both giveth and taketh away.) The Hokies pick up Alyssa Latham from Tennessee. She’s a Graduate student with, presumably, one year of eligibility left. At 6’ 2” Latham is a Forward, and that presence and experience is needed more than ever. Also from Tennessee, Coach Duffy picked up a Sophomore Forward (she’s also listed as a Guard) Lauren Hurst. Hurst had a solid Freshman level appearance list with the Lady Vols, so her height at 6’ 3” gives Duffy one of the tallest rosters Tech women’s basketball has seen in a while. The team added some experienced guard depth with the addition of Natalee Goff from Emmanuel. She’s a double-digit scoring threat with an excellent outside shooting rating. She’s also a Sophomore with loads of eligibility left, and the potential of a long stay in Blacksburg.
The Freshmen
Coach Duffy and staff took a bit of an unusual look at the incoming Freshman class situation this season. She picked up two overseas prospects who present an interesting opportunity for the Hokies, especially at Center. Jessica Dimaro is from Nigeria. She’s listed at 6-4 and has played in a Japanese minor league for 2 seasons. Francesca Baldassarre is a 5-9 Guard from Brindisi Italy. Much like our former European transfer, Matilda Ekh, she’s got some quality experience in the European club leagues.
As far as the regular high school connections, the staff added Kaleo Anderson and Arianna Harris-Mott to the new roster. Anderson is from Washington state, with a very impressive high school record, and Harris-Mott comes from the DC Metro area (Columbia, MD) was an excellent basketball player but chose Tech because of the university’s engineering school reputation.
A Quick Look Ahead
The ACC still is one of the most competitive and difficult Women’s Basketball Conferences. Every single game within the conference schedule is going to be a tough contest. This season the pre-New Year’s Conference Games are against Duke in Durham, NC and against Coach Hoover’s old team Wake Forest on December 19th. What’s a bit unusual is the away game at Pitt on New Year’s Eve. It’s interesting to see three conference games scheduled before the new year and primary ACC season starts. It’s going to be doubly important because two of the three are played on the road and one during the holidays.
The non-conference schedule is peppered heavily with home games, thankfully, with big opponents like Tennessee, a series that features Michigan State at a Thanksgiving Tournament in Florida. It’s a challenging ramp up schedule with a few potential haymakers tossed into the 2026 run to 2027.
The Tech Coaching staff has a potentially very deep bench, and the first two months of games will give them a good opportunity to see how the new players react, and how the veterans fit into the new starting and bench rosters for the big push after New Year’s Day.
Coverage Notes
We will be applying for photo credentials again this season so look for regular home game albums on the Facebook page and picture coverage from each game in the summaries. See you from the baseline starting November 2nd.
It’s going to be an interesting and exciting season for Coach Duffy and the Lady Hokies.
