Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Virginia Tech women’s basketball. It took seven years for Kenny Brooks to get the program to its first-ever ACC tournament final. But when the Hokies’ moment finally came on Sunday in Greensboro vs. Louisville, they seized it, winning the ACC championship by eight, 75-67.
It shouldn’t come as a shock to see Tech succeeding on the national stage. As ACC tournament MVP Georgia Amoore explained afterwards, Brooks has turned the program into a powerhouse. From a challenger brand to a championship brand, as Director of Athletics Whit Babcock would say.
And though it took Brooks some time, he did it. He rewrote the culture. It’s shown over the past few seasons – the Hokies are in the NCAA tournament for the third straight season – and down the stretch recently in the 11-game win streak. The only team in the country hotter than Virginia Tech is No. 1 South Carolina.
“I'm so proud,” Brooks said after the victory. “So proud to be associated with this group, this university, this athletic program. The resiliency that these kids showed throughout the year, the support that we got from Hokie Nation all year long. I knew when these kids came and they committed to us, I knew eventually we were going to be playing for different things, and they proved me right.”
The title game went exactly the way the Hokies (27-4) drew it up. They limited Hailey Van Lith to 12 points and 4-of-17 from the field. As D’asia Gregg put it after the game, they wanted to make someone else beat them.
Chrislyn Carr had a performance that just about met that benchmark, scoring a game-high 27 points. But Olivia Cochran (11 points) was the only other Cardinal in double figures. Louisville (23-11) was 37% on the afternoon, and it wasn’t until the final few minutes that it really found a way to string multiple possessions together.
Each player executed their assignment, even the ones that might've been hidden in the box score. Cayla King only scored four points, but the Greensboro native hounded Van Lith and forced a number of bad shots, including an airball. Kayana Traylor and Taylor Soule got in on the action as well. It took a team effort defensively, but Tech was up for the task. It held its opponent below 41% shooting for the 10th time in the 11-game win streak.
“I’m proud of us,” Soule said. “We knew the more disciplined team was going to be the team that came out of here with the W, and we’ve been doing the last month-and-a-half, playing disciplined basketball. I’m really proud of everybody.”
The Hokies were their usual selves on the offensive end, too. Amoore scored 25 points, almost matching Carr, and got three 3-pointers down, breaking a tournament record for most treys in the event with 14. She added four assists and four rebounds as well.
Elizabeth Kitley (20 points, five rebounds) got to her spots on that end of the floor, especially early. Traylor (nine points, six rebounds, four assists) added a spark when needed, and Soule’s second-half energy was a shot in the arm. She finished with 13 points and five boards.
Even when the Cardinals surged and trimmed the deficit, Virginia Tech responded. It proved time and time again that it was the best team in the conference.
“We just really kept our composure,” Brooks said. "That's one of the things that this group has done. We've gone through it the last month and a half where we've kept our composure in very dire situations, and we've come out on top because of their maturity, and today was no different.”
Tech outscored Louisville in every quarter except the third, which it lost 16-13. But it sat comfortably at halftime with a 38-28 advantage and led by multiple possessions the rest of the way. It wasn’t a perfect or pretty performance, but it was a winning one.
And the jubilation as the clock hit zero was unbelievable. The team celebrated for a long time with the Hokie faithful, which completely outnumbered the Louisville fans in the building. Everyone got their moment.
For players like Kitley, Gregg, and King it was with family affair. For Amoore, it was soaking in the fans, who made Greensboro Coliseum feel like home away from home. She said her family back in Australia streamed the game at 5 a.m.
For Brooks, who became the first Black head coach to win the ACC women's basketball tournament, it was surreal. He won conference championships before – five at James Madison – but spent seven seasons trying to build up Virginia Tech. He smiled, hugged his wife (Chrissy) and daughters (Kendyl, Chloe and Gabby) and soaked in the moment.
It was also a chance for Brooks to reflect on the journey of the Hokies.
Assistants came and went over the years – Brittany Anderson moved to Stanford and won a national title; Shawn Poppie coached Chattanooga to a SoCon championship on Sunday. Players graduated and moved on, like Aisha Sheppard, who won a WNBA title with the Las Vegas Aces.
All of them – from Vanessa Panousis, Sami Hill and Taylor Emery to Taja Cole and Lydia Rivers – contributed to the success Virginia Tech saw on Sunday in Greensboro. They helped Brooks lift the program out of the ground and establish the foundation for ACC championships. In turn, that attracted high quality players like Kitley, King, Amoore, Traylor and Soule to Blacksburg.
That’s why the victory over Louisville was so sweet. Brooks & Co. finally had an opportunity to celebrate seven years of construction of a masterpiece.
“We had to build it from the ground up,” Brooks said. “We had to change the culture. … It isn't for everyone. I'm not going to sit here and say it's for everyone. But these kids, if you buy into it and what we're doing and believe in it, things like this can happen. These kids bought in, they understand it. Their legacy will long live at Virginia Tech.
“We said it was going to be a special year, and it's come true.”
Box Score: No. 8 Virginia Tech 75, Louisville 67