By Derek DeBurger

Louisville looked outmatched against the No. 12 Virginia Tech Hokies in a frustrating loss.

After scoring the first bucket of the game, Louisville quickly fell into a hole against the Hokies. Despite being down most of the first quarter with stars Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore scoring early and often, Louisville kept the score close.

That is, until the role-players for Virginia Tech began to burn the Cards’ defense, too. After a late run, Louisville trailed 13-20 at the end of the first.

The offense didn’t slow down for the Hokies in the second quarter; Matilda Ekh hit back-to-back three-pointers extending the lead to 13. Louisville began scoring at a higher rate but was unable to slow down the two-headed monster of the Hokies’ offense.

Louisville trailed 35-48 at halftime.

Virginia Tech’s offense showed no signs of cooling off during the break. Nearly everyone was hitting shots against the Cards. After finally switching their defensive scheme to a half-court trapping press, the Cards finally showed some life, forcing Amoore into bad decisions and scoring in transition. The Cards cut the lead down to 10, but that was the closest it would be for the rest of the game as the Hokies just piled on. They carried a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Even effort at a comeback was calmly and thoroughly snuffed out by Virginia Tech. Olivia Cochran and Jayda Curry attempted to take control of the offense, but it was far too little, far too late.

Louisville would lose 70-86.

The score looks much closer than the game was. Even though there was ample opportunity for the Cards to surge back, the defense just could not stop consistently the Hokies’ offensive efforts. Kitley ended the game with 26 points and 13 rebounds while Amoore had 23 points and 10 assists. As a team, the Hokies shot 65.4% from the field and 43.5% from three.

Louisville did shoot 42.4% from the field and had an amazing game taking care of the ball with just four turnovers, but the defense did them no favors.

Virginia Tech is a great team so this isn’t the worst loss, but it certainly is disheartening for the tournament prospects of this team.

Louisville falls to 21-6 on the season and 10-4 in the ACC.