Collegiate Times

Monet Tellier (31) jukes around a Charlotte defender.

Before last night, the previous two meetings between the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team and the Charlotte 49ers had been decided by a grand total of four points.

On Wednesday night, the Hokies added to the series of close games with a 71-65 overtime loss at Cassell Coliseum.

Guard Aerial Wilson led the way for Tech with 18 points and seven assists, while guard Alyssa Fenyn finished with 11 points, nine points and three rebounds.

Both teams opened up with excellent defense that led to poor shooting and a lot of turnovers between them. The game was back and forth throughout, with neither team leading by more than six points.

“I thought the kids played very hard,” said Dennis Wolff, Tech head coach. “I was disappointed with our execution throughout the game. We just need to get a little more in sync on offense.”

After forward Porschia Hadley hit a jumper with 9:50 remaining to extend the Hokies lead to 14-8, it appeared they might be able to pull away a bit.

However, the 49ers came storming back with a 7-0 run of their own, and from there, the remainder of the half went back and forth. In total, there were eight lead changes in the first
half.

The second half remained a back-and-forth battle. Tech maintained a lead throughout the first 14 minutes of the half but were never able to stretch their lead to more than four points. For every basket the Hokies hit, the 49ers would have an answer.

With the Hokies up 48-44 and only 5:44 remaining in the game, Charlotte went on a 10-0 run to seize control of the game and take a six-point lead. During that run, Epiphany Woodson hit three straight jumpers to take the game from tied at 48 to a six-point Charlotte lead. 

The 49ers continued to hit their free throws and maintain a two-possession lead.

Trailing by four with just 25 seconds remaining, the Hokies then turned on their press once again and caused another turnover as Woodson stepped out for Charlotte and the Hokies got the ball with nine seconds remaining on the clock.  

After a missed shot that tipped off the hands of a Charlotte defender, the Hokies got the ball again with just two seconds on the clock. 

Wilson inbounded to Fenyn, who hit a short jumper from the side with just 0.1 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 59 apiece.

After going scoreless in the first half, Fenyn did not lose any confidence in her ability to shoot the ball.

“It was just a matter of hitting shots,” she said. “I had some open looks in the first half that I didn’t hit. My teammates did a good job of just finding me on the baseline.”

In overtime, Charlotte jumped out to a four-point lead and never looked back. Woodson continued her late game heroics for the 49ers scoring six points in the extra period.
The Hokies struggled to hit from the field and were forced to put the opposition on the line where they were able to put the game away.

Guard Monet Tellier, coming off her 29-point performance against Old Dominion, struggled to find her shot and finished with just 10 points on the night. Wilson, however, knows they can’t expect Tellier to have that type of performance each game.

“You’re not going to have a good game every game,” Wilson said. “I just tried to play hard and do everything Coach Wolff asked.”

With the loss, the Hokies fall to 1-1 on the season, while Charlotte improves to 3-0. The team will have two days of preparation before hitting the road to take on George Washington Nov. 19.  

A version of this article appeared in the Nov 17 issue of the Collegiate Times.