The Radford University women’s basketball team played tough against Virginia Tech Sunday, reducing their deficit to as little as two points in the first two quarters before falling late in the last half 89-40.
Bridget Birkhead’s first quarter kept Radford in the game early. Virginia Tech opened the game with a 9-0 run before Ashley Tudor broke the cold spell with a pair of free throws. Birkhead then hit four straight three-pointers, a jumper, and a free throw that pulled the Highlanders to within 19-17. Bryonna McClean added a bucket before the quarter ended with Virginia Tech leading 25-19.
The relentless Virginia Tech assault continued into the second quarter as the Hokies hit each of their first four shots to take a 15-point lead. Radford responded again, though, as Jackie Christ and Kyanna Morgan scored their first points of the day. Rachel LaLonde had the big shot of the quarter knocking down a three-pointer. LaLonde was fouled on the play and converted the and-one to pull Radford within 11 at the break.
Virginia Tech pulled away in the second half, shooting 53% to Radford’s 15%. The Highlanders got four straight points from Kyanna Morgan and a layup from McClean in the second half, but the team went cold after that allowing Virginia Tech to move ahead 60-35 at the end of the third quarter. Tudor and Carmen Williams scored in the final quarter of the game, but Virginia Tech continued its hot shooting to win 89-40.
Birkhead finished the game with a team-best 16 points. LaLonde and Morgan were the next highest-scoring Highlanders as they combined for 11 points. That same duo also led the team in rebounding as Morgan had six and LaLonde five on the day. The Highlanders shot decently from the free-throw line and from three-point range, shooting 75% on 12 attempts at the charity stripe and 56% on nine attempts from beyond the arc.
“For the first half we battled, and when Bridget got hot that definitely helped things a bit,” said Radford Head Coach Mike McGuire. “The pace of our offense got too slow in the second half. We didn’t cut and move the way we’re capable of. We tried to do too much individually, and that’s something we’ve really got to work on this week before going down to Myrtle Beach. We had a lot of adversity faced today with players being out, so for us to be in the mix for a while was good on our part.”
