Monday, both basketball teams take to Cassell Coliseum’s Carilion Court to get their 2023-2024 basketball seasons underway. The women have a tall hill to climb but their core strength (Kitley, King, and Amoore) is back for one more try at the big show. GO HOKIES!!!
Repeating Amazing is Always a Huge Challenge
It’s the first week in November, and that means hoops start up. There isn’t much pressure on the women’s team to do well this season… /sarc off… In fact, their 2023 Final Four appearance and near defeat of the eventual national champion LSU Tigers marked the only real disappointment in the entire 2022-2023 season for Kenny Brooks and team.
The problem will be repeating the feat this year, since repeating both a dominant ACC Tournament Championship, and then nearly finishing off March Madness with more trophies and nets, was an amazing trip. The most difficult part of the next two months before the ACC regular season lights up will be maintaining focus and dealing with some seriously dangerous non-conference opponents right out of the gate.
We’ll talk about the early tournaments as the first big one in Charlotte unfolds, but for now, let’s see how the Lady Hokies are set up to play ball this season. The roster turnover was huge, and Head Coach Kenny Brooks took to the portal to pull in some talent to replace the players who departed for other programs or graduated.
The Roster Looks Familiar, and Not
Needless to say, with three critical players leaving the program to graduation, and post collegiate opportunities, there was a crying need to replace their talent. Taylor Soule, D’asia Gregg, Taylor Geiman and Kayana Traylor played crucial roles in the offense and defense and have graduated. Several other players hit the portal for their own reasons, but the end result was a real need for Brooks to fill some major holes in both his starting lineup and his bench. Remember, Kenny Brooks runs a very short bench, often with only eight listed players for conference games. He ended up having to replace those departing players.
2023-2024 Virginia Tech Hokie Women’s Basketball Team
| Number | Name | Class | Position | Height | Hometown | High School/Other | Previous School |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Name | Class | Position | Height | Hometown | High School/Other | Previous School |
| 20 | Olivia Summiel | Gr. | G/F | 6′ 2″ | Dayville, Conn. | Marianapolis Prep | Wake Forest |
| 22 | Cayla King** | Gr. | G | 6′ 0″ | Greensboro, N.C. | Northwest Guilford | |
| 33 | Elizabeth Kitley** | Gr. | C | 6′ 6″ | Summerfield, N.C. | Northwest Guilford | |
| 5 | Georgia Amoore** | Sr. | G | 5′ 6″ | Ballarat, Victoria, Australia | Loretto College Ballarat (Ballarat Rush) | |
| 4 | Rose Micheaux | Jr. | F | 6′ 2″ | Wayne, Mich. | Wayne Memorial | Minnesota |
| 11 | Matilda Ekh | Jr. | G/F | 6′ 0″ | Vasteras, Sweden | Riksbasketgymnasiet Lulea | Michigan State |
| 1 | Carleigh Wenzel* | R-Fr. | G | 6′ 0″ | San Antonio, Texas | Antonian College Prep | |
| 2 | Gabby Brooks | Fr. | G | 5′ 10″ | Harrisonburg, Va. | Blacksburg | |
| 3 | Mackenzie Nelson | Fr. | G | 5′ 8″ | Greenwich, Conn. | St. Luke’s | |
| 10 | Carys Baker | Fr. | F | 6′ 2″ | West Hartford, Conn. | Loomis Chaffee | |
| 12 | Samyha Suffren | Fr. | G | 5′ 8″ | Charlotte, N.C. | Cannon School | |
| 13 | Clara Strack | Fr. | C | 6′ 5″ | Buffalo, N.Y. | Hamburg | |
| ** | Core Starter from the 2022-2023 Season | ||||||
| * | Returning Hokie |
Gobbler Country from Hokie Sports data
The Core Returns for One More Season Together
One saving grace to the situation was the extra year of eligibility granted to players who were here during the COVID season shutdown. That meant that two of last season’s critical players; All-Star Center Elizabeth Kitley and starting defensive and shooting guard Cayla King were allowed to come back to play for the Hokies for one more season as graduate students.
King and Kitley were teammates through high school and through their experience at Virginia Tech. They work well together and form a strong connection that makes the Hokie defense work, along with King’s ability to hit from three-point range.
Let us not forget our favorite Aussie. Though Kitley and King were surprise returners, Point Guard Georgia Amoore is not going to be passed by on the watch list front. If Kitley is the stately presence inside, and King is the defensive muscle, Georgia is everyone’s favorite floor general. Besides her leadership, she’s one of the best three-point shooters in the NCAA, and her ACC Tournament MVP award proved that she started off strong last year and finished riding a rocket. It doesn’t hurt the core talent that they are close off the court and have made it a point to keep it that way. You sort of get the feeling that having Amoore on this season’s team was one of the prime motivations for Kitley and King’s decisions to stay.
Also returning from last season’s team and she needs a mention because she’s going to have a critical role to play, is Guard Carleigh Wentzel, who redshirted last season and has been mentioned as showing up big in this season’s practices.
Transfers
Of course, the transfer portal is becoming a bigger factor in every major collegiate sport, and the give and take has hit Tech in good and unfortunate ways. Coach Kenny Brooks needed to add more than inexperienced freshmen to complete his roster, and four returning Hokies is one player shy of a full court, and four shy of a reliable bench, even as short as Brooks runs his.
Going deep into the Women’s Big Show was not a minor inducement so there were some excellent additions to the Hokies roster over the off-season. Coach Brooks added some height at a switching Guard/Forward position, and a pure forward. Guard/Forward Olivia Summiel, Forward Rose Micheaux, and Guard/Forward Matilda Ekh make up what is presumably going to be Kenny’s starters and bench players. The Freshmen on the squad will probably be seen in the early games in order to get experience and find the critical one or two players who can be added in case ‘things’ happen to the starting players.
Micheaux and Ekh are both experienced B1G talents with Honorable Mentions in the B1G post season honors. Ekh is another international student, and a native of Sweden – which means someone’s going to need to find Swedish flags to put up with the one from Australia. Summiel is an ACC talent who comes to Blacksburg after playing four excellent seasons Wake Forest. These three players look to be critical additions for this season. Ekh played just two seasons for Michigan State, so she has some eligibility left, and Golden Gopher Micheaux also is a Junior.
Watches and Notes of Potential Awards
No season of late would be complete without noting that Liz Kitley and Georgia Amoore are on award committee radar.
It’s actually sort of unfair to put both close friends up against each other for a major award watch list, but both Kitley and Amoore are deserving, and the recognition is good.
And we have to finish off with this one because if you want to know about the personality of this team, just look at its floor Quarterback, 3-Point Pirate, and team personality as she invites Hokie Nation to Opening Night, tomorrow.
Hey Georgia, Liz, and Cayla! You’re On!
Gobbler Country will be there, and for as many games as 64-year-old knees and arms to hold cameras will allow. Also note: We have credentials for both Women’s and Men’s Basketball, so we’ll be trying to get to as many games as possible.
It’s going to be a blast.
GO HOKIES!!!
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