“We’re going to take her as any other post player we played all year.” “It’s never about a matchup,” said Reese, who is averaging 22 points and 17 rebounds in the tournament. The 6-3 Reese was the first player with 25 points and 24 rebounds in a tournament game, doing it in a 66-42 second-round win over Michigan. The 6-foot-6 Kitley had one of the highest-scoring games in tournament history in the first round with 42 points against Florida Gulf Coast. They’re not angry like, ‘We’re going to prove you wrong.’ They’re so confident in themselves, ‘OK, we’re going to prove ourselves right.’ We know how good we are.”Īliyah Boston and defending champion South Carolina taking on scoring sensation Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the other semifinal will get an overload of attention.īut don’t sleep on the frontcourt clash in this game between Kitley and Reese. “Because of the name on the front, because it hasn’t had a history like a Tennessee or a UConn had, people are really quick to doubt you,” Brooks said. Virginia Tech won its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title and has trailed for the fewest minutes in the tournament among the Final Four teams - all 9:27 coming in the 84-74 Elite Eight victory over Ohio State. The Hokies (31-4) are on a 15-game winning streak, matching the longest under Brooks from his first 15 games in 2016-17. “So it’s not a matter of what I have done.” “I’m the only one in our locker room that has done this, but I’m not going to shoot, dribble, pass, guard any of them,” Mulkey said. The Tigers are where the Bears frequently were. The decorated Louisiana Tech point guard immediately ended LSU’s three-year tournament drought with a 26-win season before this season’s 32-2 run. Not long after that game against the Hokies, Mulkey left after 21 seasons at Baylor to lead the flagship school in her home state. Things are quite different for Mulkey, too. I think it’s translating now because we’re mature and confident and we’re playing on this stage that they did.” “To play against them taught us a lot,” Amoore said. The seventh-year Hokies coach might not have been thinking that two years ago after a 90-48 loss to Mulkey and the Bears in the second round.īut Georgia Amoore is a confident junior now, not the freshman who said she was shaking when Baylor’s DiDi Richards gave her a fist bump to try to boost the young Australian’s spirits after the rout.Īnd Elizabeth Kitley is a dominant senior, Virginia Tech’s all-time leader in points and double-doubles who’s preparing for a high-profile showdown with LSU post player Angel Reese. 1 seed into a national semifinal Friday night.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey won three national championships in four trips to the Final Four with Baylor, but she doesn’t have the bevy of veterans carrying a No. DALLAS (AP) - This Final Four is a first for Virginia Tech and coach Kenny Brooks, and he’s set to match wits with a counterpart who beat him by 42 points the last time the two met in March Madness.

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