Kenny Brooks, women’s basketball program hit the court for the first week of official practiceKenny Brooks, women’s basketball program hit the court for the first week of official practice
Women's Basketball

Kenny Brooks, women’s basketball program hit the court for the first week of official practice

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Gallery: (9-30-2021) WBB: First week of practice
BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech women's basketball team held their first official practices of the 2021-22 season this week at the Hahn Hurst Practice Facility.
 


 
The Hokies are looking to build on a strong campaign last season that included a program record six straight ACC wins, the highest ever ranked win (over No. 2 NC State) and a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. 
 
Head coach Kenny Brooks enters his sixth season at Virginia Tech with a 101-59 record during his tenure and a career record of 438-181. 
 
Coach Brooks will have plenty of experience at his disposal with nine upperclassmen on the roster. Two of those, Aisha Sheppard and Elizabeth Kitley each earned First Team All-ACC honors a season ago becoming the first VT duo to do so in the same season.
 
Sheppard will go down as one of the best to ever do it in maroon and orange. The Alexandria, Virginia native ranks first in Virginia Tech history for 3's made (306) and is seventh in points scored with 1,445. She was named an honorable mention AP All-American after averaging 17.7 points per game and finishing fifth nationally with a school record 87 3-pointers.
 
The 6-foot-6 Kitley was the only Power Five sophomore to average 18 points and 10 rebounds last season, where she recorded 13 double-doubles and topped 30 points twice. Kitley was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award, recognizing the best center in college basketball.
 
That dynamic duo combined to score 30 or more points in 80% of Tech's games last year and represented the highest scoring tandem in the ACC.
 


 
The Hokies added a 1,000-point scorer in grad student Emily Lytle who starred at Liberty for the past three years scoring 1,153 points and shooting better than 42% from the field. Adept at the long ball, Lytle scored 171 3's during her time with the Flames. Lytle, a 5-foot-11 guard/forward from Memphis, led the Flames to a 19-8 record in 2020-21, earning First Team All-Conference honors after averaging 14.7 points per game and 5.0 rebounds, both career highs. 
 
Tech also added Kayana Traylor a 5-foot-9 point guard from Martinsville, Indiana has spent the last three seasons at Purdue. Traylor led the Boilermakers in scoring this past season, averaging 15.0 points shooting 38.7% from the field. She made 26 3-pointers and averaged 3.9 assists and 2.8 rebounds per contest. Her career-high in scoring came on February 21 at Michigan State where she scored 31 points on 10 of 20 shooting from the field. She was named to the Big Ten Coaches Second Team in 2021, and became the 18th player in Purdue history to dish out 300 career assists.
 
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To view the Hokies' schedule, click here.

Gallery: (9-30-2021) WBB: First week of practice