The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team has had to weather the injury storm of missing Hunter Cattoor, losing the game where he picked up the elbow knock and the two games that followed.
The Virginia Tech women’s basketball team has had to deal with injuries of their own, namely Ashley Owusu, who is expected back during the middle of the ACC season.
There was still optimism that the Hokies could beat rival Virginia on Thursday night in a crucial conference clash, but that optimism evaporated a bit when All-American Elizabeth Kitley appeared in street clothes ahead of tipoff, rested as a precaution after spraining her ankle in the process.
It didn’t matter, as Virginia Tech dug deep and pulled out an impressive 74-66 win at Cassell Coliseum.
“This is one of my prouder moments,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said, per TechSideline.com. “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.”
Georgia Amoore was huge with her 22 points and four rebounds, while Taylor Soule had 18 points and 10 points. Kayana Traylor scored 15 points while D’Asia Gregg also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hokies went with a 2-3 zone and a 3-2 zone early on, going on a 9-0 run and setting the tone for what would be a much-needed victory.
Tech scored eight 3-points, allowing just four, and the defense was consistent and not overly aggressive as the Hoos only took eight free throws and turned the ball over 18 times.
“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.
“Just slowing it down and making sure that we value the possession and get a really good look,” Amoore said of the offense. “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.”
Weathering the storm of injuries is no easy task, but Brooks’ team got the job done when they needed it despite not shooting their best. But efficiency from three and the line was more than enough to fight off UVa team that had just one loss entering the day. Losses to Notre Dame and Clemson had some questioning the top-10 ranking Tech had earned. But the win over North Carolina and topping a much-improved Virginia team proved that this is a team that will battle through adversity, boasting the confidence needed to get up after being knocked down.
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