Virginia Tech loses Elizabeth Kitley to an injury in loss at Virginia

With the ACC regular season title locked up along with the top seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, the fifth-ranked Virginia Tech women's basketball team entered JPJ Sunday night looking to build their résumé for a top seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. At the end of the game, it wasn't the loss that the Hokies and their fans were worried, but the health of Elizabeth Kitley, the two-time ACC Player of the Year.

Four minutes into the second half, she took off down the floor off a Cavaliers turnover and finished with a layup and one. However, she immediately grabbed her knee and stayed down. She did walk to the locker room and then came back to the bench at the end of the third quarter, but did not return to the game.

Georgia Amoore did everything she could to give her team a chance after Kitley went down by scoring a career-high 39 points and knokcked down eight 3-pointers, but in the end, the Hokies were not able to get enough stops down the stretch to complete a comeback in Charlottesville.

It was the second time this season that Virginia Tech lost two straight games this season after doing it back in January with losses at Florida State and Duke. However, a bigger issue going forward besides the health of Kitley is the lack of production they get outside of Kitley and Amoore who combined for 59 of Tech's 75 points.

Clara Strack had eight points off the bench, but Cayla King had only one basket, and Matilda Ekh did not score. Carys Baker had one 3-pointer and Carleigh Wenzel had a fourth-quarter layup. On the flip side, Virginia, which picked up its fourth win over a ranked opponent this season, had three players in double figures to improve to 15-14.

Both teams will head to Greensboro, North Carolina for the ACC Tournament. Virginia Tech will be off until the quarterfinals when they play the winner of North Carolina and Miami at 1:30 p.m.