Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 13 No. 2 | October 2020

inside.hokiesports.com 21 Martin Knows WE’RE HERE FOR YOU As you think about future vacations and trips, travel with someone you trust. As your source for all things travel, Martin Travel is here for you before, during, and after your trip. ©2020 AAA Club Alliance Inc. 20_717265b C o n t a c t a M a r t i n T r a v e l A d v i s o r T o d a y Ma r t i nTr a v e l . c om / H o k i e s | 5 4 0 - 3 4 3 - 5 4 0 0 | I n f o@Ma r t i nTr a v e l . c om TR_IN_20_717265b_Martin Travel_Hokies Insert-7.5x4.8_DN3.indd 1 6/19/2020 9:51:28 AM to learn—a lot to learn about the American game. She’s from Australia, and she’s played international ball, but she’s transitioning to American style basketball. Very capable. Shoots the ball extremely well. Athletically, she’s as gifted as anyone we’ve had. She just has to get her feet wet and get the system underneath her belt, and I think she’ll be fine.” Brooks expects to play both of them extensively. He admitted that he played Cole too much last season in part because his roster lacked another true point guard, and last year’s team lacked depth on the perimeter overall, which prevented him from moving players into different roles. Whether one of these two can emerge as the dominant distributor remains to be seen. “Between the two, there is going to be a lot of competition, but I think we’re going to be able to replace what Taj brought to us,” Brooks said. “We’re excited about that. They both bring different aspects to our team that we’re going to rely upon, and I think we’ll be fine.” ROSTER ANALYSIS The Perimeter Sheppard returns as the star of the team after a season in which she averaged a team-best 14.9 points per game. She knows how to score, as she poured in 32 points in a game against Virginia last season that marked the most points scored by an ACC player in a league game. Her eight 3-pointers in that game were a Cassell Coliseum record. She finished with a school-record 84 3’s, and she’s already scored more than 1,000 points in her career. Brooks wants her to be the catalyst yet again. “She was a first-team All-ACC performer, and I think the same is to be expected of her this year,” Brooks said. “We know that she can make shots, we know that she can take over games, and I think the one thing that she is working on this year is her leadership skills and her leadership qualities and those are things that are going to bode well for her as she enters the real world. She’s a very talented kid, she’s smart, she’s articulate, she understands life, and now when she gets the leadership qualities down, I think the sky is going to be the limit for her even outside of basketball.” Tech returns four other players on the perimeter who played last season. Cayla King played the most, appearing in all 30 games—26 of her 28 field goals were 3-pointers. Taylor Geiman played in 11 games before an injury ended her season, and she possesses the ability to play multiple positions. Makayla Ennis (15 games) and Chloe Brooks (five games) played limited minutes. In addition to Amoore and Green, Brooks and his staff added three other perimeter pieces in sophomore Azana Baines and freshmen Shamarla King and Shelby Calhoun. The 6-foot-1 Baines—who is awaiting an NCAA decision on immediate eligibility—averaged 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season at Duke before transferring to Tech, while the 6-0 King was a top 100 recruit and the 5-11 Calhoun scored more than 2,400 points in high school. The Hokies lacked depth on the perimeter a season ago, but Brooks and his staff brought in depth and length. Six of the 10 perimeter players listed on the roster stand 5-10 or taller. “We have a lot of kids,” Brooks said. “We have lots of bodies to choose from. That’s been an issue for us in the past where we were thin at some positions, and now we have options. There’s going to be a lot of competition.” The Post The 6-5 Kitley anchors the post and rivals Sheppard as the star of the team. In her debut season, she averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and she finished second in the ACC with 63 blocked shots. Kitley got better as the season went along, too. In conference games, she averaged 13.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and averaging a double-double this season would not be unrealistic. She spent the offseason expanding her shooting range—Brooks hopes to see her extend that to beyond the 3-point arc—and becoming more of a vocal leader. Women’s basketball SEASON PREVIEW Continued on page 22