News broke on Saturday that two key starters for Virginia Tech women's basketball last season are departing the program.
Mackenzie Nelson and Carys Baker both announced their decisions to enter the transfer portal on Saturday afternoon. Nelson informed On3's Talia Goodman, who was first to report it, while Baker made her decision public on her Instagram.
The duo, which hails from Connecticut — Greenwich and West Hartford, respectively — was part of a four-person recruiting class in 2023, along with Samyha Suffren and Clara Strack. They each spent three seasons with the Hokies and were pivotal in leading the program to a 23-10 (12-6 ACC) record this year and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Nelson (5-8), who redshirted as a true freshman in 2023-24 behind Georgia Amoore, came off the bench last year. This season, she started 32 games and averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 assists, which ranked second in the ACC. She has two years of eligibility remaining.
She had two double-doubles on the year. In December against Florida State, she posted 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting to go with 12 assists. In the season finale at Virginia, she recorded 10 points and 11 assists.
Nelson was not a consistent scoring threat and only had nine double-figure outings in 2025-26 while shooting 38.7 percent (89-for-230) from the field and just 29.2 percent (21-for-72) from behind the arc. However, she was an effective distributor, pacing the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7, which ranked sixth in the nation.
On the other hand, Baker (6-2) was Tech's second-leading scorer and a go-to option who earned Second Team All-ACC honors. She averaged 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game this year while making a 42.9 percent clip (178-for-415) from the floor and a 37.9 percent clip (66-for-174) from 3-point range. She has one year of eligibility remaining.
She scored in double figures in 25 of the Hokies' 33 outings and had 10 performances with 20-plus points. She produced a season-high 24 points twice: vs. Clemson and at Stanford. Baker was also effective on the glass and averaged 7.8 rebounds over the final 11 games of the year, including a 21-point, 14-board double-double in the NCAA Tournament vs. Oregon.
According to Bart Torvik, she ranked in the top 16 in the ACC in PORPAGATU (points over replacement per adjusted game at that usage) at 4.7, box-plus minus at 8.5 and offensive rating at 113.2. She also had the lowest turnover rate in the league (9.7%) among those who played at least 40 percent of their team's total minutes.
Baker started every game of the Megan Duffy era — 32 games last season, 33 this year. Her averages were up from 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2024-25, though she was a more efficient shooter — 48.2 percent overall, 41.8 percent from three.
As a true freshman in 2023-24, Baker was part of the Hokies team that won the ACC regular-season championship. She came off the bench in 33 games and averaged 3.4 points.
Nelson and Baker are the third and fourth portal departures of the offseason, joining Kayl Petersen and Sophie Swanson. That leaves the Hokies with 10 current scholarship players for the 2026-27 season.
On a positive note, guard Carleigh Wenzel — who earned All-America Honorable Mention honors this week — announced on Thursday that she's returning to the program next season.
For more information on the comings and goings of Virginia Tech men's and women's basketball this offseason, click here for Tech Sideline's roster management page.