The No. 5 Hokies were unable to overcome an Elizabeth Kitley injury in the third quarter as they fell to Virginia on Sunday night, 80-75. Tech finishes the season with two consecutive losses after No. 17 Notre Dame took them down on Thursday.
Georgia Amoore was unbelievable Sunday, as she scored her career-high in points with 39 while shooting 8-15 from beyond the arc. However, it still wasn’t enough without the other half of Tech’s dynamic duo.
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Virginia was in control of the game from the jump.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers led Tech 17-16, and forced the Hokies to turn the ball over six times. Tech also struggled to shoot the ball early, as they were 2-7 from downtown.
Turnovers plagued the Hokies all game. They finished with 17 turnovers, which is not a recipe for success to win against a rival, especially without one of the best players in the country.
Virginia continued to play well in the second, as they went into the break with a 34-29 lead over Tech.
The Hokies came out playing much better early on in the third. That was until Kitley suffered an injury to her left leg as she made a layup on a fastbreak to tie the game up at 41 a piece with 6:04 to play in the period.
The injury looked tragic at first, with Kenny Brooks and the other Tech players surrounding Kitley on the floor. However, she was able to come back and watch the rest of the game from the bench, and she had no wraps or ice on her leg.
Kitley’s injury left it up to Amoore to carry the Hokies through the rest of the match.
Amoore was able to do just that, scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter, and finishing with eight three pointers made. Both the 39 total points and the eight threes made were career highs for Amoore.
However, the rest of the Hokie squad was not able to do enough to propel Tech to victory in a tough road environment. Besides Kitley who had 20 points when she went down, the next highest scorer on the team was Clara Strack with eight points.
Some missed free throws by Virginia gave Tech a few chances at the end, but they couldn’t get a couple of tough looks to fall.
Despite two losses in a row to finish the season, the Hokies still won the regular season ACC title and hold the number one seed in the ACC Tournament that begins on Wednesday. Tech will not have to play until the quarterfinals on Friday.
The more important matter is the currently unknown status of Elizabeth Kitley.
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