No. 9 Virginia Tech women’s basketball overcame the absence of ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley on Thursday night, beating Virginia 74-66.
The All-American, who’s averaged 18.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in 2022-23, sprained her ankle in Tuesday’s practice. Tech held her out as a precaution. Despite that, the Hokies picked up their third ACC win on the year, holding off the Cavaliers in a tight contest.
Georgia Amoore (22 points), Taylor Soule (18), Kayana Traylor (15) and D’asia Gregg (10) each scored in double figures for Tech, who used an explosive second half to pull away. Cayla King also added nine points.
“This is one of my prouder moments,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said after the victory. “The reason I’m proud is because I’m sure when a lot of people walked out and they saw Elizabeth Kitley in street clothes, they didn’t give us much of a chance. We know how good we are.
“They knew nobody was going to be Liz, but they had to be a better version of themselves. … It wasn’t always pretty. Sometimes it was backyard basketball. … They just really adjusted on the fly.”
The Hokies (13-2, 3-2 ACC) couldn’t seem to find an edge against UVa (13-2, 2-2 ACC) in the early stages, but Brooks used a 2-3 zone and a 3-2 zone on defense out of the first quarter media timeout. In turn, Tech, who almost exclusively uses man-to-man, ripped off a 9-0 run, forcing four turnovers in the process.
That set the tone for the rest of the game. The Cavaliers finished with 18 miscues and Tech kept it close on the glass. Virginia entered Thursday as the No. 8 rebounding team in the country; VT only lost the battle by two, 37-35.
“I’ve gotta eat a Pepto Bismol pill because it makes me sick to play zone,” Brooks said, “but it’s out of necessity. The kids did a really good job. We mixed it up a little bit, we had two zones we put in that we were running tonight, and they did a good job of mixing it up. We didn’t want to give UVa the same look for the whole game.”
Camryn Taylor (18 points), Mir McLean (11) and Sam Brunelle (11) led the Cavaliers while Taylor Valladay added nine. UVa head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton used an 11-woman rotation and received 12 points from the bench.
Meanwhile, Tech found its rhythm offensively in the second half. After a poor second quarter where it was 4-of-15 (26.7%), VT responded with an explosive second half. The Hokies made six 3-pointers, shot 48% from the floor and moved the ball well.
After tying a season-high in turnovers with 20 vs. North Carolina on Sunday, Tech had just 13. It never felt like the Hokies lost control of the game; Amoore and Traylor were methodical in creating offense while Soule, King and Gregg each did their part.
“Just slowing it down and making sure that we value the possession and get a really good look,” Amoore said. “They were playing zone so there was going to be people open, so just trying not to get disheartened by that and come back, set it up and run our stuff because we do have offensive threats. And they were on tonight.”
Down the stretch, the Hokies continued to find a way to make plays. They never allowed the Cavaliers to pull closer than three points despite Virginia making it a one-possession game four different times in the fourth quarter.
At one point, it was Soule. Next, it was Traylor. With 3:03 left, it was King who came up clutch. And Amoore’s triple with 1:55 to play all but sealed the win.
“I thought in the first half, we got stagnant,” Brooks said. I think we saw opportunities and were trying to attack those opportunities without ball movement. That’s one of the things we talked about at halftime, just to get the ball moving side-to-side, then look to attack.
“I think Georgia got a good look. Cayla got a couple good looks. We were able to separate ourselves a little bit. … We hit very timely shots.”
In a lopsided series that Virginia leads 15-51 all-time, Virginia Tech has won five of the last six meetings. Thursday’s Commonwealth Clash was the first decided by single digits since January 2020.
The Hokies ride a two-game win streak into Coral Gables on Sunday when they clash with Miami (9-6, 2-2 ACC) at 1 p.m. The Hurricanes defeated North Carolina, whom Tech beat on Sunday, 62-58 on Thursday in South Florida. Brooks said he’s hopeful Kitley will play.
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Fun game to watch. Total team effort; played very loose.
Happy birthday, Traylor
I came away from Cassell with an enhanced respect for Georgia. I mean, they kept a speedy guard 6 inches from her face the entire game. I figured that Taylor, Kayla and KT would have to offset that with big offensive games. But Georgia used her high bball IQ and quickness in driving to the basket leaving her bodyguard behind as well as her patented step-back to lead the way in scoring. Liz is definitely the ACC POY but Georgia just impresses the heck out of me.
+1