Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks confirms that Elizabeth Kitley's season is over
By Scott Roche
Friday, the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team kicks off their 2024 NCAA Tournament run at home against Marshall in the first round at Cassell Coliseum. Thursday, Hokies head coach Kenny Brooks made the announcement that fans have been fearing, Elizabeth Kitley will not be on the floor.
In a loss at Virginia on March 3, Kitley went down with an injury in the third quarter after making a layup. She left the court and returned at the end of the quarter, but did not play. She missed the ACC Tournament with what was called a lower leg injury but wasn’t ruled out of the NCAA Tournament until Thursday when Brooks confirmed she had torn her ACL.
Kenny Brooks on Elizabeth Kitley: "She's been emotional. I've been emotional. We probably text 30 times a day.
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) March 21, 2024
"She's put everything into this. She's the reason we're here. ... The kid eat, slept, drank everything #Hokies basketball. ... For everything to be taken away from you…
Brooks mentioned in his press conference that the Hokies weren't trying to hide the fact that she wasn't going to play, but Brooks said that he went into protective mode for his player.
Losing the three-time ACC Player of the Year is going to be tough to replace, but Virginia Tech will take the floor with two weeks to prepare for playing without Kitley. It's not the ending that Kitley and all Hokies fans were hoping for in her final season in Blacksburg.
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