Georgia Tech’s undefeated run to start the 2024-25 season finally ended Thursday. The Yellow Jackets ran out of steam in a double overtime, 105-94 loss to visiting Virginia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.
Georgia Tech fell to 15-1 after getting outscored 13-2 in the second extra period. It needed heroics at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime just to survive, but the magic ran out down the stretch as the Hokies (11-4, 2-2 ACC) pulled away for good.
“A loss is a way you learn. Failure is a great teacher,” Georgia Tech coach Nell Fortner said. “So we’ll take this lesson and we’ll learn from it and we’ll get better from it. It’s been a good run for us, but we’re not perfect and we’re not where we wanna be. We gotta make sure we learn everything we can from this loss and get better from it.
Kara Dunn poured in 33 points to lead Georgia Tech (3-1 in the ACC) and Tonie Morgan, who surpassed 1,000 points for her career, dropped 28. But the Jackets were sorely missing leading scorer Dani Carnegie who left the game in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury.
Fortner said afterward that she had not spoken with the team’s medical training staff in regard to the severity of Carnegie’s injury.
“We had our opportunities to win the game,” Fortner added. “We just got to understand what it takes to, as far as if it’s better preparation, better lock-in to the scouting report, that probably would have helped us a little bit, too, because we just gave up too many things that we knew how to guard and we didn’t guard them right.”
Virginia Tech got 24 points from Carleigh Wenzel and 20 points each from Lani White and Rose Micheaux. The Hokies shot 46.8% and made 12 3-pointers. Carys Baker and Matilda Ekh each added 17.
As for the Jackets, the next week doesn’t get any easier with trips to Louisville (11-5, 4-1 ACC) on Sunday and No. 3 Notre Dame (13-2, 4-0 ACC) next Thursday forthcoming.
“Obviously, it’s not the best thing to lose. But I think facing that adversity earlier in the ACC season will be good for us,” Dunn said. “We have a lot to learn from it and I think it doesn’t stop us at all from accomplishing our goals coming up.”
In an 80-80 game after regulation Thursday, Georgia Tech quickly fell behind 85-82 to start overtime, then scored four straight to edge ahead 86-85. That lead lasted all of 16 seconds as Baker drained a 3 on the other end.
Virginia Tech maintained that lead over the final 2 1/2 minutes and Georgia Tech’s hopes looked bleak after Chazadi Wright’s long 3 clanked no good as time winded toward zero. But Dunn’s offensive rebound on the baseline and kick out to Rusne Augustinaite on the left wing saved the day — Augustinaite swished a 3 as the horn sounded sending the game to double overtime.
That turned out to be the last field goal of the night for the Jackets. Georgia Tech was held to just two made free throws over the final five minutes.
“We gotta learn how to fight against adversity, keep going a little bit extra and be able to pull it out at the end,” Dunn said.
Georgia Tech had a five-point lead going into the final 10 minutes, but that margin evaporated by the 5:06 mark when Wenzel hit her fifth 3 of the game, this one tying the score at 72. Morgan scored four straight, two on a jumper and two on a pair of free throws, to put the Jackets back up four with less than four minutes to play.
The Hokies responded with an 8-0 run and looked poised to pull off the upset. Dunn and Morgan scored on back-to-back layups, the latter one coming with 11 seconds to go, to send the game into an extra period.
Georgia Tech, leading 26-23 after one quarter, got some separation in the second quarter thanks to an 8-2 run fueled by a Dunn 3 and Kayla Blackshear and-1 putting the Jackets ahead 35-30. Virginia Tech went nearly three minutes without scoring at one stretch during the period.
The Jackets’ biggest lead of the half came on Ariadna Termis’ offensive putback with 95 seconds to go until the break that put the home team ahead 44-37. Georgia Tech would settle for a 44-39 advantage after 20 minutes despite getting just two points from Carnegie and turning the ball over eight times.
Georgia Tech maintained its lead throughout the third quarter, even after Virginia Tech drew within 44-43 in the early part of the period. Dunn could rarely be stopped by pouring in nine points and her jumper with 3:15 on the clock made it 60-51. The Jackets took a 66-61 lead into the final frame after holding the Hokies to 35% shooting in the third quarter, but couldn’t close out what would have been a 16th straight victory.
“They (Virginia Tech) came out with their heart on their sleeve and played really, really hard and well from the get-go,” Fortner said. “I’ll be honest with you, I was disappointed in our intensity to start the game. We just can’t take things for granted, whether we hadn’t lost a game, whether we’re at home, or whatever. That part, to me, was a bit disappointing. But we’ll get better.”
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