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Senior guard Ashley Owusu of the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team is one of three Hokies who have entered the transfer portal, according to the university.
Freshman reserve guards Charlise Dunn and Maddie Vejsicky have also entered the portal.
Two years ago, Owusu was such a standout at Maryland that she was named a third-team All-American. Last year, she earned All-Big Ten second-team honors with the Terrapins.
The Maryland transfer started the first seven games for Tech this season before suffering a broken pinkie that forced her to miss 10 games. She returned to action on Jan. 19 in a reserve role, but her playing time declined and then evaporated. She did not play in nine of the team’s last 10 games; during that span she was not used in the ACC tournament nor in the NCAA tournament.
The day after she did not play in a Feb. 23 win over North Carolina, Owusu tweeted “freee meeee.”
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She returned to action the following game, playing five minutes in the regular-season finale at Georgia Tech. That was the last time she played for Tech.
As usual, Owusu was on the bench with the other reserves for the first half of the team’s Final Four loss to LSU. But she did not return to the bench for the second half.
When someone on Twitter asked what had happened, Tech guard Kayana Traylor tweeted after the game, “hmm idk [meaning I don’t know] check the LSU bench.” Traylor’s tweet was retweeted by Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley, Cayla King, Taylor Soule, D’asia Gregg and Clara Ford.
Owusu had played at Maryland with Terrapins-turned-LSU Star Angel Reese.
Reese tweeted after the win over Tech, “FREE MY DAWG,” followed by Owusu’s twitter handle to indicate who Reese was referring to.
King replied in a tweet, “She’s been free.” King’s tweet was liked by Tech’s Georgia Amoore and Carleigh Wenzel, as well as by Traylor and Gregg.
A Tech spokesman said Owusu did not return to the bench for second half of the Final Four loss because she was not feeling well.
Owusu was averaging 10.4 points when she was sidelined with a broken pinkie. She wound up averaging 5.1 points and 15.2 minutes in 17 games this year. The last time she played double figures in minutes was on Jan. 29.
In an interview several days after the ACC tournament, coach Kenny Brooks discussed why he did not use Owusu in the conference tournament.
“Everybody can just look and see and tell that we’ve got things going in a tremendous direction,” Brooks said. “[Owusu’s injury] was an unfair situation — not only for her but for us because it usually takes transfers a little while to get used to your system. And the time they’re usually getting used to it, she was out. She broke her finger, and she wasn’t able to be incorporated into what we were doing.
“During that time, we formed a different identity — one that probably would’ve been different if she were healthy and playing throughout the month of December and January because … she would have been incorporated into the system. But she’s a different type player and we had to form a different identity. And by the time she came back, we were right in the middle of a heated race, and we actually had slipped a little. … When she came back, we were 4-3 in the ACC and didn’t have enough room to go backwards to try and reinvent ourselves. And then everybody else was just playing well.
“The chemistry’s been good. I know she’s frustrated, but my job is to make sure that we’re winning.”
Owusu has one year of eligibility left.
Dunn played in only 11 games this season. She averaged 5.5 minutes. She scored a total of 15 points.
Vejsicky played in only six games. She averaged 2.5 minutes. She scored a total of five points.
In other Tech news, senior reserve Taylor Geiman tweeted a farewell to basketball and a thank you to Virginia Tech on Tuesday. She will not be using her extra year of eligibility.
“Virginia Tech is a special place in every aspect. I’m going to miss my time here but I couldn’t be more excited to start the next phase of my life,” Geiman tweeted.
Geiman averaged 6.8 minutes in 31 games this season. She scored a total of 20 points this season.
