Aisha Sheppard
Three Lady Hokies have received post-season honors. Aisha Sheppard was named first-team All-ACC. Elizabeth Kitley was an All-Freshman selection, and Taja Cole, was hamed to the league’s All-Defensive Team.
Sheppard had a stellar junior campaign, leading the Hokies in scoring at 15.2 points per game, the eighth-best average in the league. She scored in double figures in 24 of the Hokies’ contests and set a new personal best with a 32-point effort at home against Virginia.
The conference’s leader in 3-point field goals, Sheppard twice notched eight triples in a game, tying the program record. She ranked second in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage.
Her 84 treys are a program record for a season. For her career, Sheppard has cemented herself in second place all-time at Virginia Tech with 219 with a season still to go.
In the regular season finale, Sheppard eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career and became the 28th member of Virginia Tech’s 1,000-point club.
Kitleys impact on the court was felt from the opening tip when she scored 27 points in her first game. That debut was the second-best in program history. Her 13 field goals in that game are the most by any conference player all season.
The Summerfield, N.C., native averaged 12.4 points per game and 7.6 rebounds. Kitley was second in the ACC with 60 blocks and recorded a league-best eight in the Hokies’ victory at Notre Dame.
She registered six double-doubles on the season and is second in the conference in field goal percentage (.564).
The freshman center finds her season totals littering the Virginia Tech record book with her 60 blocks ranking sixth all-time, her 56.4% shooting percentage is sixth, and her conference field goal percentage (.573) and block total (41) setting new records.
She started every game for the Hokies this season.
Cole, a grad transfer, started every game for the Hokies and led the conference in assists with 191, the third-highest total in the nation. On the defensive end she recorded 42 steals
Cole averaged 9.7 points per contest, 6.6 assists and 5.0 rebounds. Her 1.80 assist to turnover ratio ranked fourth in the league.
Among seasons in Blacksburg for a point guard, Cole’s ranks among the best with her assist total ranking as the third-highest.
The Richmond native averaged nearly 34 minutes per game and set a new record for minutes played in an ACC season by a Hokie. Her 121 league assists also set a new mark.
No Hokie has ever dished out more assists in a single ACC contest than Cole did with 11 in the win at Notre Dame.
Her 528 career assists place her 16th amongst active players in Division 1. Her total is the highest for anyone who has played in less than 103 games.
In ACC honors for other league teams, regular-season champion Louisville placed three players on the 2019-20 All-ACC Women’s Basketball teams, which were selected by the league’s Blue-Ribbon Panel and the conference’s 15 head coaches.
Dana Evans and Jazmine Jones represent the top-seeded Cardinals on both the Blue-Ribbon Panel and Head Coaches All-ACC first teams. Kylee Shook also earned a spot on the Blue-Ribbon Panel first team, while securing second team honors from the coaches.
Florida State placed Nicki Ekhomu and Kiah Gillespie on both first teams. Duke’s Haley Gorecki, NC State’s Elissa Cunane, Syracuse’s Kiara Lewis and Virginia’s Jocelyn Willoughby were each named first-team selections by both the Blue Ribbon Panel and the coaches.
North Carolina’s Janelle Bailey was a first-team honoree for the Blue Ribbon Panel and Aisha Sheppard of Virginia Tech claimed the same from the coaches, while being named a second-team selection by the BRP.
Boston College’s Emma Guy was tabbed first team by the league’s head coaches and second team by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
Both the Blue Ribbon Panel and Coaches All-ACC Freshman Teams feature Clemson’s Amari Robinson, NC State’s Jakia Brown-Turner, North Carolina’s Malu Tshitenge, Notre Dame’s Katlyn Gilbert and Sam Brunelle, Pitt’s Dayshanette Harris and Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley.
Jada Boyd of NC State earned All-Freshman honors from the league’s head coaches while Notre Dame’s Anaya Peoples was named to the Blue Ribbon Panel’s freshman team.
The coaches also selected the 2019-20 ACC All-Defensive Team of Duke’s Gorecki, Louisville’s Jones and Shook, Miami’s Mykea Gray and Virginia Tech’s Taja Cole.
–VT Athletics
