Kenny Brooks and his women’s Virginia Tech basketball program are quickly gaining the attention they rightfully deserve.
The Virginia Tech women’s basketball is now on the rise, officially. On Monday it was announced the Hokies were ranked at No. 19, four spots from the previous week at No. 23.
#Hokies women’s hoops up four spots at No. 19 in AP Top 25.
— JW Gravley (@jwgravley) December 26, 2016
#Hokies are in the Top-20! Coming into this week’s @AP_Top25 poll at 19th!
Highest ranking for the #Hokies since 18th in 2006.
— VT Women’s Hoops (@VT_WBBall) December 26, 2016
It is clear that Kenny Brooks has his squad moving in the right direction and now the voters are starting to see that as well. With their 71-52 win over crosstown foe Radford, it has helped the Hokies establish their dominance not only in the ACC but around the NCAA as well.
The Hokies did manage to come away with a hard fought win against the Auburn Tigers, but things weren’t looking good once Virginia Tech gave up their 77-73 lead in just 20 seconds to force overtime.
Auburn scored the first basket in overtime, but the Hokies answered with a 6-2 run to go on top 83-81 with 2:32 to go. The Tigers cut it down to a one-point game, but Tech’s Hicks went to work, scoring five unanswered points while Cook added a pair of free throws in a 7-0 run. The Tigers hit another one from outside with 18 seconds remaining to pull within three, but Hicks drained a pair of free throws to secure the win.
The win against Auburn isn’t the only big win for the Hokies as they defeated the then ranked No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers by four at home and escaped Central Florida’s upset minded run with a 67-64 win that came down to a last second shoot and miss by UCF.
Virginia Tech (12-0) will wrap up their non-conference schedule against Delaware State (1-9) on December 30th with a 7 PM start time. The Hokies will open their ACC schedule against North Carolina on January 2nd.
What does the ACC schedule have in store for the Hokies? That is still to be told, but one thing is for sure, if they run the table, or at least go above .500 in conference play then Brooks and his squad could be looking a top five seed for the NCAA Tournament.
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