Virginia Tech’s Kitley Picks Up ACC Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Honors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WFXR) – For the third consecutive year, Virginia Tech graduate center Elizabeth Kitley was named the recipient of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2023-24 Kay Yow Award for women’s basketball.

The ACC women’s basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is named in memory of the legendary Yow, who won 737 games as a head coach while directing NC State to four ACC Tournament championships and the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team to a gold medal. Yow, who passed away in January 2009, is also remembered for her leadership and courage in her fight against breast cancer.

ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were established in September 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the awards must have maintained a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) for their career as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters. The award is based 60 percent on academic achievement and 40 percent on athletic accomplishment.

A native of Summerfield, North Carolina, Kitley has been voted the ACC Player of the Year each of the past three seasons. The four-time First-Team All-ACC honoree and All-American selection is one of only two ACC players to average a double-double this season, as she ranks second in the conference in scoring at 22.8 points per game and has hauled in a league-best 11.4 rebounds per contest. She has posted a conference-best 19 double-doubles this season in leading the Hokies to a first-place regular-season finish and seal a double-bye in this week’s 2024 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament. Kitley won ACC Player of the Week six times this season, matching the conference single-season record held by Duke’s Alana Beard in both 2002-03 and 2003-04. Kitley became the ACC’s all-time leader in rebounds earlier this season on Dec. 21, 2023, and set the league’s record for most double-doubles with her 73rd on Feb. 8, 2024. Kitley currently sits in second place on the ACC’s all-time scoring list with 2,709 points.

Kitley is a four-time All-ACC Academic Team honoree and has been named to the Dean’s List and Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every semester during her time at Virginia Tech. Kitley, who became the fourth back-to-back Kay Yow Award honoree in ACC history and the first since Duke’s Lexie Brown in 2017-18 last year, is the first-ever three-time award winner with this year’s honor. Having graduated with summa cum laude honors following the spring 2023 semester with a degree in human nutrition with concentrations in foods and exercise, Kitley is currently working on a second degree in education, curriculum and instruction (EDCI) over her final season at Virginia Tech.

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