BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Elizabeth Kitley scored 34 points to lift No. 8 Virginia Tech to a 74-62 victory over North Carolina on Sunday for its 10th consecutive win.
Kitley connected on 11 of 17 from the floor and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line for the Hokies (23-4, 14-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who clinched a share of the ACC’s regular-season crown.
Deja Kelly led the Tar Heels (18-10, 10-6) with 28 points. The loss ended North Carolina’s three-game winning streak.
The Hokies trailed by a point early on, but they used a 21-2 run to end the first quarter and never trailed again. Kitley scored six during the run, and Matilda Ekh hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to end the quarter and give the Hokies a 16-point lead.
North Carolina cut the lead to 35-30 on a 3-pointer by Lexi Donarski with 9:19 left in the third quarter, but Virginia Tech’s Georgia Amoore took over from there.
Amoore scored 14 of her 19 points in the third, including a pullup 3-pointer at the end of the quarter that pushed the Hokies’ lead back to 57-47. The Hokies eventually pushed the lead to 19 and pulled away.
Ekh finished with 11 points for the Hokies. Donarski had 10 for the Tar Heels.
TAKEAWAYS
North Carolina: The Tar Heels’ tough luck against the Hokies continued. North Carolina has lost six consecutive games to Virginia Tech, with five of those losses by five points or fewer or in overtime.
Virginia Tech: For the second straight season, the Hokies are peaking at the right time. They locked up the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament with the victory, and maybe more impressively, moved to 14-0 in February over the past two seasons.
UP NEXT
North Carolina: Plays at Boston College on Thursday.
Virginia Tech: Plays at No. 19 Notre Dame on Thursday.
___
Get alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
