Liz Kitley, No. 13 Hokies Take Down No. 3 NC State In Instant Classic
Carter Hill
Editor-in-Chief
January 7, 2024
Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Kitley scored the g0-ahead bucket with under a second left in the win over No. 3 NC State. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG – It almost seemed scripted. And of course, it was star center Elizabeth Kitley.
In one of the more exhilarating finishes in program history, No. 13 Virginia Tech (12-2, 3-0 ACC) added another cornerstone moment to its recent success when Kitley banked in a go-ahead layup with under a second to go in a 63-62 come-from-behind victory over No. 3 NC State (14-1, 2-1) on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out Cassell Coliseum.
It’s the first time the program has ever sold-out its home venue for a regular season game, and oh boy, was it deafening.
“What a wonderful game. What a wonderful atmosphere,” Tech eighth-year head coach Kenny Brooks said. “That crowd can make a good team great, and we needed every bit of them tonight. When they announced it was a sell-out, I don’t know, it may have given us a little boost.
“They dug in a little bit harder and fed off the energy of the crowd.”
That they did. The Hokies didn’t lead until 1:28 to play, and held the Wolfpack to just one field goal in the final 7:52 of the game.
Trailing 60-49 at that point in time, Tech closed out the game on a 14-2 run, forcing NC State to seemingly settle the rest of the way.
“We had a timeout and we were just in that huddle and were like, ‘At this point, what’s there to lose?’” standout guard Georgia Amoore said. “I’m so proud of the girls to go out and lock in and play really, really solid defense, but for me it was the 50-50 balls. It was the rebounds that Cayla [King] and Carleigh [Wenzel] both had and Liz contesting every single shot that went in there.
“I think we just had a different sense of demeanor and aggression that we were just like, ‘They can not score.’”
The Wolfpack proceeded to miss its next 10 shots, with the team finishing 1-for-its-last-11 (9.1%) from the floor.
“We changed the angle of what we were doing,” Brooks said. “I had [Amoore], instead of sitting back waiting at the three-point line, she was able to pick up at the halfcourt, just so they couldn’t get a running start. That helped out a lot.
“Carleigh played the whole fourth quarter, and her length and her defense was much better and it gave us a boost. … They did a tremendous job of executing what we wanted and what we needed.”
Leading 61-60 with 7.4 seconds to go, Tech just needed one more stop.
Having just surrendered the ball back after Amoore missed on a left wing three, NC State had set itself for a shot to win it, and after a flurry of timeouts, it took advantage.
Weaving through defenders, guard Saniya Rivers proceeded to furiously drive the baseline. Going over Kitley, she scored on an up-and-under – the team’s first bucket since the 7:52 mark.
The Wolfpack had reclaimed the one-point lead with 2.1 seconds left. Timeout, Virginia Tech. The Hokies were going to have one more opportunity.
“When they hit that shot, there was no panic,” Brooks said. “There was no dropping of shoulders, nobody said, ‘Daggonit.” It was like, ‘Ok, it’s our turn.’ We’ve been here before [in] the UNC game last year when they tied it up with two seconds to go. We threw the ball in, ironically, Cayla to Liz off a Georgia screen, and they executed. They’re smart.
“Georgia, Liz and Cayla are the three smartest players I’ve ever coached, and when you have that luxury, you feel like you’re never out of it.”
Indeed, the Hokies ran a similar play to when Kitley beat the Tar Heels at the buzzer last year in Chapel Hill.
Inbounding in front of her own bench, King lobbed it down low to Kitley. Amoore screened it perfectly, and Kitley cashed in.
With nine-tenths of a second to go, Tech once again had regained the lead. And without a timeout to advance the ball, there was little the Wolfpack could do from there.
“It’s kind of an old faithful, I think we’ve gone over that play multiple times in practice,” Amoore said. “Cayla has great vision and great accuracy with that pass, and I knew it’s worked before, so I was very, very confident.
“I remember screening and turning around and [Liz] just had it above her head and I was like, ‘Sick, we won.’”
The Hokies were paced by Kitley’s 27 points and Amoore’s 21, with the likes of Matilda Ekh and Carys Baker each adding six apiece.
Tech shot 41.5 % (27-of-65) from the floor and 27.3% (6-of-22) from three, and limited NC State to 40.7% (24-of-59) from the field and 34.8% (8-of-23) from beyond the arc. Those are numbers Tech will take.
All in all, even though the Wolfpack were without starting center River Baldwin (ankle), this is a massive win for Virginia Tech.
After faltering in previous top-10 bouts against Iowa and LSU, the Hokies finally have their first signature victory, and now at 3-0 in ACC play, Tech’s set up nicely.
Still plenty of big-time tests await, but this was a nice start. And with Miami and Florida State looming on the horizon, it’s never a bad time to get ahead in the ACC race.
“We needed it,” Brooks said. “Obviously we stumbled early in the year against the two ranked opponents that we had. A lot of people wanted to kind of judge us on that, but we dropped so many spots because we lost to a team that was ranked ahead of us, so we just kind of dug in and said, ‘Hey, we’re not trying to prove anybody wrong, we’re just going to continue to prove ourselves right.’
“That worked for us last year and it continues to work for us.”