No. 14 Miami women hand No. 15 Virginia Tech first loss

Jan 11, 2017, 09:46 pm

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Adrienne Motley scored 18 points, Jessica Thomas had 17 and No. 14 Miami used a 17-7 run in the fourth quarter to hand No. 15 Virginia Tech its first loss of the season 82-75 on Wednesday night.

Emese Hof added 14 points, Laura Cornelius 13 and Sarah Mortensen 10 as the three reserves helped the Hurricanes (14-3, 3-2 ACC) to a 39-2 advantage in bench points. That was critical as the Hokies (15-1, 2-1) basically used seven players with two fouling and two more finishing with four fouls.

Virginia Tech led 58-57 at the end of the third quarter on a buzzer-beating jumper by Sami Hill -- who scored 11 in the quarter. The teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Thomas provided the last of 13 lead changes as Miami went up 62-60. Two free throws by Thomas made it 75-65 with three minutes left. The Hokies got within five with 2:03 to play but Cornelius answered with a layup and in the final minute Miami made 6 of 8 free throws.

Hill led Virginia Tech, which was off to its second-best start behind the 1998-99 team that went 18-0, with a career-best 23 points, Chanette Hicks had 19 and Regan Magarity had 18 with 14 rebounds.