GREENSBORO, N.C. — In the last few years, matchups between the Virginia Tech and NC State women’s basketball teams have brought the best and the worst out of both teams. Each duel between the schools features a head coaching master class between NC State’s Wes Moore and Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks.
Saturday’s 70-55 victory against the Hokies added another chapter in the recent rivalry.
“I want to tip my hat to Kenny Brooks and Virginia Tech,” Moore said after today’s victory. “Obviously they were shorthanded today with a couple of their key players injured, and yet they gave us all we wanted. I’m not surprised; Coach Brooks does a heck of a job, and his players … they’re going to compete until the final whistle.”
Though the Wolfpack has won eight out of the last nine matchups — the games since senior center Elissa Cunane’s freshman season — the Hokies have forced the Pack to claw its way to victory in each instance.
Five of these heated matchups have been settled by single digits, two by just one possession, and the Wolfpack’s one loss in that timeframe went to overtime in Blacksburg, Virginia.
“We’ve played against them six times in the last two years, three times each year,” Brooks said. “The familiarity, it’s good basketball. It’s hard-fought. It’s a healthy rivalry. We respect them, they respect us.”
Of course, the rivalry is hallmarked by the clash between All-ACC centers Elizabeth Kitley and Cunane, childhood best friends who both grew up in Summerfield, North Carolina, just minutes from Greensboro Coliseum, where the latest ACC Tournament chapter between the two teams took place.
In last year’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal against Virginia Tech, exactly one year ago today, Kitley and Cunane combined for 47 points, 18 rebounds, two blocks and three steals. The 47 points between the two accounted for nearly 40% of all points scored in the contest. NC State went on to defeat the Hokies in that game, moving forward to its second straight ACC Tournament title.
“I always love playing against [Kitley] because she’s my friend and also a great post player,” Cunane said after last year’s quarterfinal matchup. “So playing against her, I learn a lot about myself and I feel like my game grows. It’s just cool to play against somebody from my hometown. … I think us being friends, and Cayla [King] too, it’s really turned NC State-Virginia Tech into a rivalry.”
NC State likely knew what it was getting itself into in Saturday’s semifinal matchup between the two schools.
Though the Hokies were without Kitley and King, Virginia Tech came into the matchup having won a thriller during Friday’s quarterfinal round against UNC-Chapel Hill in overtime. Brooks is the type of coach to get more out of less and the Hokies had the makings of a team primed to make a stunning tournament run.
“They’re not going to change who they are or what they do,” Moore said after Friday’s quarterfinal round. “I always say all the time — I love it — a former Texas football coach back in the ’70s used to say, ‘I’m going to dance with the ones that brung me.’ Same thing here. … They’re going to stick with what they do; I don’t doubt that. Like I say, Kenny is a great coach, so I know he’ll figure out a way.”
And figure it out he did. Without two of his best players, Brooks posed a threat to the Wolfpack all afternoon, fighting until the final buzzer even with a depleted roster.
“On the court, like I said, we went out there and we were shorthanded and we took the No. 3 ranked team in the country — not the No. 3 ranked team in the conference, but the country — and we gave them everything we had for probably 32 minutes,” Brooks said.
The respect the two coaches have for one another bleeds through to the players, rosters and the fans.
“He says it all the time, he hates playing against us but he loves playing against us,” Brooks said. “I hate playing against him but I love playing against him. As a matter of fact after the game, I went into his locker room and talked to his kids, and he went into my locker room and talked to our kids. And just congratulating each other on what’s going on. You don’t do that if it’s not a healthy respect for both programs.”
Greensboro Coliseum was nearly full with a genuine split between Wolfpack red and white and Virginia Tech maroon and burnt orange. Though this rivalry isn’t as heated as the one with UNC, it got just as loud and it’s the type of rivalry that’s perfect for growing the game.
The Wolfpack once again got the best of the Hokies to move on to the team’s third straight ACC Championship game under Moore. But Brooks and Virginia Tech won’t go down quietly, and it won’t be the last time the two meet.
“Wes does a tremendous job, and he’s got the blueprint,” Brooks said. “If you look at our teams, we’re extremely similar, very similar in the way we play, especially when we’re at full complement.”
