Since the Lady Hokies had a stumble against Duke, they closed out their 2025 schedule with four wins including a huge road win against Florida State. The start 2026 at 11-3 and 1-1 in the ACC. It’s been three weeks of wins for Tech, but the road hasn’t been completely smooth for everyone in the program. What the team is showing though is togetherness and tenacity. The end result of that was a 4-game sweep of the final opponents on the schedule for the year, and a solid 10-2 non-conference record.
We are here to catch everyone up on this one as we pick regular game-to-game coverage back up. (Sorry, still no photography, though.) After the Duke loss, which was potentially a seriously deflating loss because it was at home, and the team just didn’t play well, Coach Duffy and the team seem to have reached down and found some grit in re-addressing some of the issues that hit the team hard with the ACC opener.
Smoothing the Road and Accelerating
The big mission for the close out was to get the team back on an accelerating curve after taking the Duke loss. The one big challenge was the 2nd ACC game against Florida State, and that on would be in their house. The team rose to the challenge.
Presbyterian – Dec. 10th – Win 92-36
The first “recovery game” was against Presbyterian in Cassell. There was little doubt that the team could win this one. Many times, when a team is presented with a game that can result in deep bench usage, the team lets down a bit, and there are struggles with details, and intensity. This is especially true when the coach pulls the regular starters very soon into the contest and gets serious minutes on the floor to players normally on the bench.
This didn’t happen as the bench players steadily made their way to the court and everyone played. Everyone also scored and contributed during their minutes on the court. This game was led by Samyha Suffren (17/2/2), Leila Wells (13/3/5), and Kilah Freelon (13/7). Everyone else scored something, and even with a limited (less than 15 minutes) Carys Baker pulled down a team high 8 rebounds along with her 5 points on 4 attempts. Anyia Trent and Amani Jenkins showed up big for their average of 15 minutes on the floor by putting in 9 and 8 respectively. Even fellow freshman Spela Brecelj got nearly 12 minutes on the court and scored 4 points on 3 attempts and pulled down 2 boards to go with it.
East Tennessee State University – Dec. 14th – Win 73-55
ETSU presented a bit more of a physical challenge for the Lady Hokies. They slow started in the 1st quarter on this one, and the Lady Buccaneers got the best of the Hokies in the 1st quarter of the game. The big news for this one was the steady and now critical bubbling to the surface of the Connecticut Corner (Carys Baker and Mackie Nelson). Baker lit fire in the 2nd quarter, and Nelson began to run the offense from the point, aiming at Carys. Baker ended up the game with 22 points, and 8 rebounds. Nelson still isn’t shooting enough, but she is really picking up the Point duties and pushed out a team high 8 assists to go with her 7 points. Mel Daley (13/4/1) and Samyha Suffren (12/2) put in major contributions for this one Suffren is becoming a serious threat to steal the ball with 4 in this contest. The big surprise in this one was the appearance of Aniya Trent playing more than half the game. She might not have scored, but that didn’t matter in the grander scheme. What she did was lead the bench players with 7 rebounds and block two shots. The reality that she only took a single shot during her time on the floor gives you an idea of her unselfish work.
Tech came out of the locker room in the 2nd half and proved the 3rd Quarter Rule by putting the game out of reach for the Buccaneers and allowed the team to play the exchange for the last 10 minutes. It was an important win because the team found itself on the ropes after the 1st quarter slow start, and had to rally up to take the lead and pull away. It was a really important lesson because the team really needed to get a win on the road trip to Tallahassee.
Florida State – Dec. 18th – Win 79-54
There was a certain element of vengeance in this contest after FSU beat the Lady Hokies up last season (105-74). There isn’t a Hokie fan who didn’t wince at that game. It really hurt the Hokies’ momentum and probably contributed to their being the last out team in the Beeg Shew at the end of the season. The added difficulty of being on the road didn’t help this one. The Hokies had an ACC loss on the board, and ending 2025 with another one would have been a serious problem in the perceptions that this Lady Hokie team was worthy of a bid. It was really a must win on the last road trip for 2025.
The Connecticut Corner Strikes
The suspicion that this is going to be a real trend is a good one to have. Carys Baker and Mackie Nelson are old travel teammates and school opponents from Connecticut. Mackie redshirted her freshman year, while Carys played sparing minutes in Kenny Brooks’s short bench scheme. Last season, both took the chance and stayed with Megan Duffy. It’s looking very much like their bet was a good one.
Carys had a respectable season last year, and Mackie was a critical player off the bench for the Hokies.
Baker proved a capable inside player posting up as one of the taller women on the team, and also occasionally getting outside to show that she could still hit from beyond the arc. Mackie started splitting point duties with Carleigh and often surprised with quick moves down the key. Nelson can shoot from beyond the arc but rarely did last season (she’s not raining treys this year, either).
This season what has developed, though, is a critical pairing that is putting Nelson up high and Carys finding anywhere near the basket allowing her to get feeds from Mackie. It all came together in Tallahassee for the Lady Hokies. Carys scored 21 points, pulled down 9 boards, blocked a shot, stole the ball 3 times, and just flat out dominated on both sides of the court. Mackie actually shot the ball with good consistency and played near flawless point. She double-doubled on points and assists with 18 points and 12 assists. She also contributed on defense with 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Not to be completely outdone, Mel Daley really had a nice outing with a double-double of her own putting up 16 points and 10 rebounds for her stats sheet. She also had 2 steals in the game. Carleigh Wenzel made double figures for the first game in a few with 11. She also had 3 rebounds, a block, and a steal on defense. Kilah Freelon (5/7/2), Samyha Suffren (6/3/2), and Aniya Trent (2/7/1) rounded out the scoring for the Hokies. Trent is becoming a really solid pick to get on the floor and raise the level of defensive play for the team.
The dominating win in the Seminoles’ house was a touch of cold revenge for last season’s drubbing, but it’s important to remember that the FSU of this season isn’t the same team as last season. It was good for the Hokies to get back to .500 in the ACC schedule, and their chances of making the post season tournament will hinge on keeping that momentum up.
Radford – Dec. 21st – Win 79-47
Well, this one was another bit of a slow start surprise for the Hokies. Yes, Tech won every quarter, but the Lady Highlanders made the trip up Peppers Ferry and Prices Fork to give the Hokies something to think about for a touch of the NRV (New River Valley) championship. It took Tech a little while to get the lead stretched out enough for everyone to feel like they could let everyone gets some playing time in the bag. Again, we see Carys Baker (23/7/4) serving notice that she’s going to be a critical part of this team’s offense. She was a red hot 4-7 from three-point range. She also swatted 2 shots away on defense and totaled 7 on the boards with 5 coming on defense. Mackie Nelson didn’t take many shots, what she did do is pushed out 7 assists which led the team. Mackie also stole the ball once and had 4 defensive rebounds. Carleigh Wenzel contributed with 3 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The really amazing performance for this one was Kilah Freelon’s 17 rebounds and 9 points. Kilah also had a block, 2 steals, and 11 of those 17 boards were defensive. If she hadn’t missed a free throw, she’d have notched another double-double for herself.
Still Digesting the Lessons to be Learned
The end of the season run was a good one from a momentum perspective. The Duke loss could have flattened the tires, but it didn’t the team bounced right back and got to work.
There are a few observations as we close this one out and wait form the Miami game, tomorrow at Cassell Coliseum.
- Carys Baker is the dominant player on this squad. If she’s on the team is on. If she’s off the team struggles.
- Increasingly, Mackie Nelson is becoming the starting point guard but needs to shoot more because she hits and the team needs those points.
- Aniya Trent is going to be a major factor in the future. She finds a way to contribute every time she gets on the court and her increasing time off the bench is a result of that.
- Samyha Suffren is pure speed, and getting her on the floor off the bench is almost always a positive.
- The team is still having issues with outside shooting and low percentages from critical players. The coaches need to find a way to get those players to refocus and get back to hitting their shots.
It’s Miami on New Year’s
The team faces off against Miami in Cassell. This game is critical to solidifying the Hokies’ path to the post season.
Let’s get our friend Evan Hughes to tell us who’s hot!
