# 2022–23 Virginia Tech Hokies women's basketball team

The 2022–23 Virginia Tech Hokies women's basketball team represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Hokies, were led by seventh-year head coach Kenny Brooks, and played their home games at Cassell Coliseum as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
They finished the season 31–5 overall and 14–4 in ACC play to finish in a tie for second place. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they defeated sixth seed Miami in the Quarterfinals, second seed Duke in the Semifinals and fourth seed Louisville in the Final to win the title. The ACC Tournament title was the first in program history. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the first seed in the Seattle 3. They defeated sixteenth seed Chattanooga in the First Round, ninth seed South Dakota State in the Second Round, fourth seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16 and third seed Ohio State in the Elite Eight. In the Final Four they could not overcome third seed LSU, losing 72–79 to end their season. The Hokies' trips to the Elite Eight and Final Four were the first such trips in program history.

## Previous season

The Hokies finished the season 23–10 overall and 13–5 in ACC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. As the fifth seed in the ACC tournament, they defeated thirteenth seed Clemson in the Second Round and fourth seed North Carolina in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions and first seed NC State in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the fifth seed in the Spokane Region. They lost to twelfth seed Florida Gulf Coast in the First Round to end their season.

## Off-season
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Aisha Sheppard | 2 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | Alexandria, Virginia | Graduated; Drafted 23rd overall in the 2022 WNBA draft |
| Azana Baines | 15 | G | 6'1" | Junior | Blackwood, New Jersey | Transferred to Seton Hall |
| Shamarla King | 21 | G | 6'0" | Freshman | Hartford, Connecticut | Transferred to Stonybrook |
| Emily Lytle | 24 | G/F | 5'1'" | Graduate Student | Memphis, Tennessee | Graduated |
| Rochelle Norris | 31 | G/F | 6'0" | Sophomore | Stafford, Virginia | Transferred to Central Michigan |

### Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Taylor Soule | 13 | F | 5'11" | Senior | West Lebanon, New Hampshire | Boston College |
| Ashley Owusu | 15 | G | 6'0" | Senior | Woodbridge, Virginia | Maryland |
| Clara Ford | 32 | C | 6'3" | Senior | Vienna, Virginia | Boston College |

### Recruiting Class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Carleigh Wenzel G | San Antonio, Texas | Antonian College Prep | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Charlise Dunn G | Victoria, Australia | Lake Ginninderra | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Maddie Vejsicky G | New Concord, Ohio | Newark | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2022* 5:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Mount St. Mary's | W 101–45 | 1–0 | Cassell Coliseum (2,104) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 11, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Bucknell | W 67–41 | 2–0 | Cassell Coliseum (2,268) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 14, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 14 | USC Upstate | W 79–24 | 3–0 | Cassell Coliseum (1,486) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 21, 2022* 12:00 p.m., FloHoops | No. 11 | vs. Kentucky Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship | W 82–74 | 4–0 | Baha Mar Convention Center Nassau, Bahamas |
| November 23, 2022* 1:30 p.m., FloHoops | No. 11 | vs. Missouri Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship | W 73–57 | 5–0 | Baha Mar Convention Center Nassau, Bahamas |
| November 27, 2022* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 11 | Longwood | W 89–28 | 6–0 | Cassell Coliseum (1,913) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 1, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 9 | Nebraska ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 85–54 | 7–0 | Cassell Coliseum (2,651) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 4, 2022* 1:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 9 | at Tennessee Jimmy V Classic | W 59–56 | 8–0 | Thompson–Boling Arena (8,507) Knoxville, TN |
| December 7, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 7 | at Boston College | W 73–58 | 9–0 (1–0) | Conte Forum (1,112) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| December 11, 2022* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 7 | UNC Asheville | W 86–48 | 10–0 | Cassell Coliseum (2,027) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 18, 2022 4:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 6 | No. 5 Notre Dame | L 52–63 | 10–1 (1–1) | Cassell Coliseum (4,206) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 21, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 8 | at High Point | W 86–66 | 11–1 | Qubein Center (1,378) High Point, NC |
| December 29, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 7 | at Clemson | L 59–64 | 11–2 (1–2) | Littlejohn Coliseum (1,517) Clemson, SC |
| January 1, 2023 4:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 7 | No. 13 North Carolina | W 68–65 | 12–2 (2–2) | Cassell Coliseum (4,186) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 5, 2023 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 9 | Virginia Rivalry | W 74–66 | 13–2 (3–2) | Cassell Coliseum (2,630) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 8, 2023 1:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 9 | at Miami (FL) | L 66–77 | 13–3 (3–3) | Watsco Center (1,639) Coral Gables, FL |
| January 12, 2023 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Louisville | W 81–79 | 14–3 (4–3) | Cassell Coliseum (2,328) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 19, 2023 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 12 | at Pittsburgh | W 69–62 | 15–3 (5–3) | Petersen Events Center (356) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 22, 2023 1:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 12 | Wake Forest | W 74–57 | 16–3 (6–3) | Cassell Coliseum (3,209) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 26, 2023 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 12 | at No. 16 Duke | L 55–66 | 16–4 (6–4) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (2,207) Durham, NC |
| January 29, 2023 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 12 | at Virginia Rivalry | W 72–60 | 17–4 (7–4) | John Paul Jones Arena (5,103) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 2, 2023 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Syracuse | W 78–64 | 18–4 (8–4) | Cassell Coliseum (2,592) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 6, 2023 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 11 | at No. 22 NC State Play4Kay | W 73–61 | 19–4 (9–4) | Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) Raleigh, NC |
| February 12, 2023 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 11 | No. 19 Florida State | W 84–70 | 20–4 (10–4) | Cassell Coliseum (2,897) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 16, 2023 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 11 | No. 9 Duke | W 61–45 | 21–4 (11–4) | Cassell Coliseum (3,084) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 19, 2023 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 11 | NC State | W 75–62 | 22–4 (12–4) | Cassell Coliseum (6,413) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 23, 2023 8:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 9 | at No. 22 North Carolina | W 61–59 | 23–4 (13–4) | Carmichael Arena (2,908) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 26, 2023 4:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 9 | at Georgia Tech | W 65–52 | 24–4 (14–4) | McCamish Pavilion (2,014) Atlanta, GA |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 3, 2023 8:00 p.m., ACCN | (3) No. 8 | vs. (6) Miami (FL) Quarterfinals | W 68–42 | 25–4 | Greensboro Coliseum (7,823) Greensboro, NC |
| March 4, 2023 2:30 p.m., ACCN | (3) No. 8 | vs. (2) No. 13 Duke Semifinals | W 58–37 | 26–4 | Greensboro Coliseum (7,122) Greensboro, NC |
| March 5, 2023 12:00 p.m., ESPN | (3) No. 8 | vs. (4) Louisville Championship | W 75–67 | 27–4 | Greensboro Coliseum (6,802) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 17, 2023* 5:30 p.m., ESPNU | (1 S3) No. 4 | (16 S3) Chattanooga First Round | W 58–33 | 28–4 | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| March 19, 2023* 5:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (1 S3) No. 4 | (9 S3) South Dakota State Second Round | W 72–60 | 29–4 | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| March 25, 2023* 6:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (1 S3) No. 4 | vs. (4 S3) No. 24 Tennessee Sweet Sixteen | W 73–64 | 30–4 | Climate Pledge Arena (10,839) Seattle, WA |
| March 27, 2023* 9:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 S3) No. 4 | vs. (3 S3) No. 12 Ohio State Elite Eight | W 84–74 | 31–4 | Climate Pledge Arena (8,466) Seattle, WA |
| March 31, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 S3) No. 4 | vs. (3 G2) No. 9 LSU Final Four | L 72–79 | 31–5 | American Airlines Center (19,288) Dallas, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S3=Seattle 3 G2=Greenville 2. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Note: The AP does not release a final poll.
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked in previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked |