Top-seeded Hokies open play at home

The Virginia Tech women’s basketball team enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the first time and will host No. 16 seed Chattanooga in a first-round game at 5:30 p.m. today.

ESPNU will televise the contest. The Hokies (27-4) bring an 11-game winning streak into the game after winning the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history.

Center Elizabeth Kitley, a second-team AP All-American and two-time ACC Player of the Year, leads Virginia Tech with 18.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks a game. Guard Georgia Amoore, an honorable mention AP All-American, has added 15.3 points and 5.3 assists per game.

Chattanooga is 20-12 under head coach Shawn Poppie, who is a former Virginia Tech associate head coach. The Mocs are making their 16th NCAA tourney appearance.

Late Wednesday NCAA FIRST FOUR Mississippi State 70, Illinois 56:

Jessika Carter had 22 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, Anastasia Hayes added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Mississippi State beat Illinois to begin the NCAA Tournament in a First Four game in South Bend, Indiana.

Mississippi State (21-10) advances to the field of 64 to take on No. 6 seed Creighton tonight. The Bulldogs improved to 14-3 in the NCAA Tournament since the 2016-17 season.

Sacred Heart 57, Southern 47: Kelsey Wood had her second double-double of the season, Ny’Ceara Pryor had 11 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists and Sacred Heart won its first NCAA Tournament game.

Sacred Heart (19-13), which has won six games in a row, will play fifth-ranked and top-seeded Stanford in the first round tonight.