Virginia Tech's Kayana Traylor makes major accusation against Ashley Owusu for leaving bench early vs. LSU
Virginia Tech was stunned by the LSU Tigers in their Final Four on Friday night, after LSU outscored the Hokies 29-13 in the fourth quarter of their women’s Final Four matchup in Dallas, Texas.
The Tigers ended up winning 79-72, and there was apparently a major accusation made by a Virginia Tech teammates against one of the competitors after the game.
Media and fans alike noticed Ashley Owusu wasn’t on the bench anymore during the later stages of the game. What happened? One of her teammates, Kayana Traylor, tweeted, “hmm idk check the lsu bench,” after the game.
Check out part of the exchange below.
Owusu did not log any minutes in Friday night’s game and did not tally any stats during the postseason after being bench by head coach Kenny Brooks.
The chat also continued to get uglier on Friday night, when Emmanuel Owusu, Ashley Owusu’s father, responded to Kayana Traylor. He tweeted. “Maybe you should the truth about how he hasn’t spoken to several kids in the team for months. How about the special group chat the coach has with 7 of the kids.”
A screenshot of that tweet is below.
In defense of his daughter, Owusu is accusing the Virginia Tech head coach, Kenny Brooks, of not speaking with certain players and playing favorites within the Hokies’ roster during the March Madness run.
Owusu was a major transfer portal addition for the Hokies this season after averaging 14.3 points and 3.7 assists in 2021-22 as a member of the Maryland roster, where she also received All-American honors.
More on Virginia Tech drama surrounding Ashley Owusu
As the online feud continued, there was another tweet by LSU’s Angel Reese — a former teammate of Ashley Owusu at Maryland — saying, “FREE MY DAWG.”
Check out the screenshot and response below, from Cayla King, one of Owusu’s Virginia Tech teammates.
“She’s been free,” King said. Simply put, it’s a sad way for the Hokies to end a spectacular run to the Final Four.
Surely, people around the program would have preferred the drama surrounding the locker room be kept in-house. But that’s all changed after the loss.
Even though they lost on Friday night, Virginia Tech still had a spectacular season, making a Final Four appearance for the first time in school history.
The furthest their women’s basketball team had advanced in the NCAA Tournament before this season, was in 1999, when they went to the Sweet 16. So, drama aside, the Hokies still have plenty to be proud of and it’s never easy to make it to a Final Four in big time college basketball.
Virginia Tech had four players score in double figures in the losing effort, and Elizabeth Kitley pumped in a double-double, pouring in 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Sunday’s national championship game appearance for the LSU Tigers will be the first in school history. They will face off against the Iowa Hawkeyes and sharpshooter Caitlin Clark.