3/27/2023 basketball Edit

Know the Lady Tigers' Final Four Enemy: Virginia Tech

Ron Higgins • Death Valley Insider

Columnist

FINAL FOUR SEMIFINAL

LSU (32-2, Greenville Regional 2 champ as a No. 3 seed) vs. Virginia Tech (31-4, Seattle Regional 3 champ as a No. 1 seed)

WHERE, WHEN: American Airlines Arena, Dallas, Friday, 6 p.m.

How Hokies got to the Final Four: Hosted Blacksburg Regional, won 58-33 over No. 16 seed Chattanooga 58-33 in first round and won 72-60 over No. 0 seed South Dakota State in second found, beat No. 4 seed Tennessee 73-64 in Seattle Regional 3 semifinal, beat No. 3 seed Ohio State 84-74 in Seattle Regional 3 championship game.

Series record vs. LSU and last meeting: LSU leads 2-1. Teams last played in 2006 with LSU winning 70-40.

Virginia Tech head coach: Kenny Brooks (481-189 in 21 seasons overall, 151-72 in 7th season at Virginia Tech).

VIRGINIA TECH STARTERS

G Georgia Amoore, 5-6, Jr.: Averages 16.3 points per game, ranked second nationally in 3-pointers made with 114, Australia native was MVP of 2023 ACC tourney, All-ACC first team. Averaging 24 points in NCAA tournament, including 20 of 55 3-pointers has scored 20 or more points in six straight games.

C Elizabeth Kitley, 6-6, Sr.: Averages 18.2 points and 10.7 rebounds and shoots 55.7 percent (253 of 454) from the field. Averaging 15.8 points and 12 rebounds in NCAA tournament including 25 points and 12 rebounds in Monday’s win over Ohio State. Two-time ACC Player of the Year (2022 and 2023), 2022 AP All-American third team, three-time first Team All-ACC (2021, 2022, 2023), two-time ACC All-Defensive Team (2022 and 2023), all-time career leader at Virginia Tech in scoring and field goals made.

F Taylor Soule, 5-11, Graduate transfer from Boston College: Averages 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds, second-team All-ACC 2023 and 2022, Averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds in NCAA tournament.

G Kayana Traylor, 5-9, Sr.: Averages 10.8 points and 3.3 rebounds., transferred to Virginia Tech at start of 2021-22 season after playing first two seasons at Purdue. Averaging 11 points and 3 rebounds in NCAA tournament.

G Cayla King, 6-0, Sr.: Holds school record for 9 3-pointers in one game. Averaging 7.5 points and 3.3 in NCAA tournament.