Boston College Women’s Basketball Falls to #7 Virginia Tech as Taylor Soule and Clara Ford Return to The Heights

The Boston College women’s basketball team opened conference play today as the Eagles welcomed the #7 Hokies and former Eagles Taylor Soule and Clara Ford to Conte Forum. Unfortunately, the ranked Hokies proved unbeatable for the Eagles, who lost this one by a score of 73-58.

Both teams started out slow on offense, with BC in particular struggling to hit the net in the first quarter. At the first media timeout (3:46 to go in the first) Maria Gakdeng and Dontavia Waggoner had BC’s only 2 baskets. Unfortunately, BC would only score one more basket in the first 10 minutes of play (a 3 pointer from Taina Mair), and BC went into the second down 17-7.

Both teams continued to play aggressive defense in the second quarter, but strong 3 point shooting helped the Hokies to really build their lead out. Just over midway through the quarter, the Hokies held a 30-15 lead. That quickly built to a 37-19 lead after (amongst other scoring plays) Taylor Soule hit a 3. Ultimately, Virginia Tech took a 43-24 lead into halftime. The Hokies were shooting 56.7% from the floor at the half, and had 21 rebounds to BC’s 13. On a positive note, BC allowed 0 steals in the first half but grabbed 5 from the Hokies.

The Eags outscored the Hokies 12-6 through the first 5 and a half minutes of the third quarter to cut into Virginia Tech’s lead a bit. That held, with BC ending the third having outscored the Hokies 22-16. That wasn’t enough for any real comeback attempt though, and Virginia Tech went into the last quarter up 59-46.

BC had a rough start to the fourth quarter, committing 3 fouls before a minute had even elapsed. Luckily, BC held it down from there to keep from getting into foul trouble. With just about 3 minutes to go, BC managed to cut Virginia Tech’s lead down to 10, but a Hokies 3 quickly bumped their lead back up. Ultimately, the Hokies won this one by a score of 73-58, but the Eagles outscored them in the second half 34-30.