NO. 9 HOKIES TAKE DOWN NO. 22 TAR HEELS BEHIND KITLEY’S SPECIAL NIGHT

By Conner Hart

Staff Writer

February 23, 2023

Elizabeth Kitley hit the game-winner from mid-range in Virginia Tech's 61-59 victory over North Carolina. (Virginia Tech Athletics)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – With 2.1 seconds remaining, the score deadlocked at 59, the Hokies inbounded the ball for the final play of the game. Reigning ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley used a pindown screen by Georgia Amoore to get open at the left elbow of the court at Carmichael Arena. She calmly caught, turned and rose up to drill a game-winning shot before being mobbed by her teammates.

Kitley’s shot allowed the Hokies (23-4, 13-4 ACC) to take down the Tar Heels 61-59, (19-9,10-7) and complete the season sweep by a combined margin of five points following a 68-65 victory earlier in the season. The win was the Hokies’ seventh straight in the ACC, a program-best.

Unlike their previous three games, the Hokies got off to a slow start with only nine points in the opening quarter – a figure aided by a three-pointer scored in the closing seconds by Amoore. Overall, it was a far cry from the 34-point scoring explosion that had taken place three games prior in the first quarter against Florida State.

“We were out of sorts, so to speak,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said on the Virginia Tech Sports Network postgame. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes, but they kept fighting.”

Brooks praised the players on their ability to fight back noting, “we got contributions [from everyone].” He’s right, too. From Kayana Traylor putting up a big 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting and 4-for-6 from three, to Amoore attacking the intermediate game to allow Kitley to get going, and finally with Virginia Tech holding a 41-28 advantage on the glass, the Hokies got what they needed late in the ballgame. 

Even Cayla King made a strong final impression in the game with a late mid-range basket along with a pair of free throws to take a late one-point lead with ten seconds to play. The Tar Heels’ Alyssa Ustby proceeded to the charity stripe after a series of fouls by the Hokies where she only managed to split the pair of free throws to tie the game at 59.

In the end though, it all came down to Kitley who became the program’s all-time leading scorer to go with her game-winning shot.

“That was a stamp on [the] ‘I’m the Player of the Year in the league,” Brooks said, while also commending former Virginia Tech associate head coach Shawn Poppie for the play. He was so confident in the play that all he was thinking about was how he would celebrate the shot.

The Hokies have put in the work this season and the ACC tournament draws near. The pieces are there that a deep run is not only a possibility but is becoming the expectation at this point. Virginia Tech has a date with Georgia Tech (21-11, 11-7) in Atlanta on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET to finish out the regular season before traveling to Greensboro for the ACC next week.