As always, the ACC has revealed the season’s award winners prior to the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, and the Hokie superstars got the recognition they deserve.
Elizabeth Kitley walked away as the Conference Player of the Year, while also making appearances on the All-ACC First Team and the All-Defensive team. Kitley’s running mate, Georgia Amoore, joined her on the All-ACC First Team, and Kenny Brooks finished second for the Conference Coach of the Year,
Elizabeth Kitley has been in the position before, now having won ACC Player of the Year awards in three consecutive seasons. She joins the very exclusive company of just Alanna Beard and Alyssa Thomas, as the only women's basketball players who have ever won three-straight ACC Player of the Year awards. Kitley finished the season with averages of 22.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game. She placed second in the conference in points, second in field goal percentage, second in blocks, and first in rebounds per game, dominating in almost every facet of the game.
To look beyond this season, Kitley has put her name in the conversation as one of the best players to ever play in the ACC and certainly the best player to ever wear a Virginia Tech uniform. Kitley is the ACC’s all time rebounding champion, and is second all time in total points scored, not to mention holding just about every record possible in Virginia Tech Women’s Basketball history.
Unfortunately, Kitley went down with a knee injury in their season finale in the highly anticipated Commonwealth Clash, and her status going forward is unknown at this time. The ceiling for Virginia Tech largely hinges on the injury status of Elizabeth Kitley. However, no matter what happens, there is no question that she has already established herself as one of the greatest players in the history of the ACC.
As good as Kitley is, she is fortunate to have a signal caller as talented as Georgia Amoore, who also earned a spot on the All-ACC First Team. Amoore led the ACC in assists, averaging 7.3 assists per game, which is far improved from her still impressive 4.9 assists she averaged last season. Amoore also made her way into the Hokie record books as the all-time leader in assists, but her passing is far from the only way she can affect the game. Amoore finished sixth in the ACC in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game, while also knocking down 2.8 threes per game, ranking 2nd in the ACC, at a 35% clip.
Amoore displayed her scoring and shooting prowess against Virginia, putting the team on her back after Kitley went down and finishing with 39 points on 8/15 from downtown. Hokie fans hope to see a lot more of that aggressive play next year, as they try to convince Amoore to stay in Blacksburg for one more year with their signs and chants.
Finally, Kenny Brooks finished second in the running for ACC Coach of the Year after another very successful year with the Hokies. It is rare for a coach to win the award when their team is the preseason pick to win the league, which says a lot about the respect he's earned from his peers and from those in the media.
