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After an accomplished career at Virginia Tech, where she ranks second in career games played (154), fifth in games started (121) and third in 3-pointers made (293), Cayla King is now playing for the Southwest Slammers in the Australian NBL1 semi-pro league.
She recently spoke to Swish Appeal about her college career, relationships with former teammates Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley and living and playing in Australia. Some highlights from the conversation include:
On the influence of her Dad’s coaching on her game:
On our AAU team, him and our other coaches, they were never the type to let a kid know how many they scored after a game. A lot of praise came from defense and rebounds, and doing the little things, like passing the ball, moving it around, being a leader on the team. I think a lot of our girls on that same team had a lot of success growing up and going to college and being a player that does a lot of the little things that sometimes don’t show up in the stats. But I think from a young age we were taught how to play all-around basketball, and I think that definitely benefited me growing up, going to college, and now overseas.
On former Virginia Tech teammate Georgia Amoore:
Georgia was a really big part of our team at Virginia Tech. She was our point guard and held us together. You should have seen her and coach Kenny Brooks in the workouts. She was like a mini coach Brooks on the side. They’d always be going up to each other. But even in workouts, her work ethic is really crazy. We called her our little Energizer Bunny. I feel like she never got tired. She was always working on improving her game learning new skills and implementing them really fast in the games. We’d see coach Brooks teaching her a new move and then the next week she’s trying that move in a game and shocking all of us. But she’s special, because she can shoot the ball like crazy, but she also has handles and speed to get by you. So guarding her, you have to pick your poison.
On Amoore getting injured before her WNBA rookie season began:
It’s really unfortunate about her injury. My heart broke a little bit, especially knowing our other teammate, Elizabeth Kitley, went through this last year, right before the WNBA season. I thought Georgia could have made a direct impact in the WNBA this year, but talking to her, her hopes are still high, her mentality is there. She’s excited to hit rehab and I I have no doubts that she’ll be back.
A special thank you to Sotiris Liomas of Elite Basketball Agents for arranging the interview.
