Virginia Tech Women's Basketball: Where it all began

In 1921 Virginia Tech admitted their first female students, including Ruth Louise Terrett. At first, the male students were outraged at the acceptance of female students and would often toss buckets of water out the windows of their barracks, causing the female students to become very agile in their attempts to avoid getting dunked on. Terrett cites this practice of dodging water as the start of the women's basketball team at Virginia Tech.

"We became exceedingly alert and quick movers, in fact we became so efficient at dodging water that we decided to extend our athletic abilities even further, and as a consequence of this we had a basketball team."
Ruth Terrett

Terrett and her female classmates formed a coed basketball team named the Sextettes in 1923, which was later renamed the Turkey Hens. Although they faced opposition at first, with one female student noting in a diary entry "Of course we weren't in the Athletic Association, so we couldn't expect support at our games. A few of the boys did come and always rooted for the opposing team." By 1929, the Turkey Hens had begun to receive support from their male classmates and went undefeated in 1930.

Virginia Tech Women's Basketball team 1971-72 | Peggy Hall Lee, VT Alumna

In 1972, the Tech Women's Basketball team was officially sanctioned as a club sport, and received full varsity status in 1976.

Renee Dennis was a member of the Virginia Tech team from 1983-87. Dennis was the all-time leading scorer at Virginia Tech with 1,791 points. Her jersey, #44 was retired in 1987, and Dennis was inducted into the Virginia Tech Hall of Fame in 1997.

In 1978, Carol Alfano took the reigns of Virginia Tech Women's Basketball. In her 19 years as head coach, Alfano earned the distinction of winningest basketball coach after compiling 278 wins and leading Tech to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1994.

Elizabeth Kitley first joined the Virginia Tech team in 2019, and quickly became a quintessential member. Kitley continuously shattered records and expectations throughout her collegiate career, making Virginia Tech Women's Basketball a must watch team. In 2023, Kitley helped lead the team to their first ACC Tournament Championship title and holds the program record for points scored with 2,709 and is the only woman in ACC history to record 2,500 points and 1,500 rebounds. Kitley's jersey #33 was retired on Jan. 19, 2025.

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