BLACKSBURG, Va. – Devastating news for Hokie fans - Virginia Tech basketball standout Liz Kitley will not be playing in the 2024 NCAA tournament.
This comes after the 11th-ranked Hokies’ two-time ACC Player of the Year suffered a non-contact knee injury in which she tore her ACL, forcing her to exit Virginia Tech’s loss at Virginia earlier this month.
“On March 3rd, I suffered a knee injury that is keeping me out of this year’s NCAA tournament,” Kitley said in an Instagram post. “This is not at all how I anticipated ending this year with my team, but I’m so proud of all of our accomplishments, and I’m excited to see my girls continue to compete. Thank you to all of Hokie Nation for being so supportive during this tough time. I’m looking forward to making a strong comeback.”
This marks the end of her basketball career at Virginia Tech. Kitley leaves VT as one of the most decorated women’s basketball players in history.
In a press conference Thursday morning, Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said the team will continue offering its support and will be praying for her well-being.
“We’re just praying for her and her mental health right now, and she’s still a part of what we do and she’s big in what we’ve done. So, heartfelt, you know, just goes out to her, because everything that she’s done for this program and everything that she will continue to do through her legacy. So, right now our prayers are just up for her.”
Teammates offered their support for Kitley, and spoke on how they’re feeling as they push ahead in the tournament.
“We’ve spent a lot of time this week, looking at a lot of different options, and you know fine tuning our offense,” said Hokies Guard Georgia Amoore. “It’s not like we’re going in with a completely different game plan, I think the best thing about Coach Brooks is he is so offensively brilliant that we can run the same stuff with different options.”
“Retuning, regrouping ourselves. Forming our identity again. With or without Liz we still have the same goal so just trying to figure that out and prepare either way,” said Hokies Guard Cayla King.
The Hokies’ women will kick off the NCAA Tournament on Friday for a first-round matchup at 3:30 p.m. against No. 13-seeded Marshall. The team is confident in winning the last two games at Cassell and has more to play for.
Stay with 10 News as this breaking sports story develops.