The Roanoke Times

File 2007 Kat Barbour (left) averaged 15.6 points and 3.6 rebounds as a Virginia Tech freshman last season.

Kat Barbour's turbulent tenure as a Hokie has come to an end.

Barbour, who earned ACC rookie of the week honors and games-long suspensions, has been released from the Virginia Tech women's basketball team, coach Beth Dunkenberger said Wednesday.

Dunkenberger would not specify what boundary Barbour crossed but said that the 5-foot-10 sophomore who averaged 15.6 points and 3.6 rebounds a game in 26 games remains in good academic standing.

"She is not a bad kid," Dunkenberger said, adding that she hopes Barbour will remain in school at Virginia Tech through the end of the semester and then transfer to another school.

"She's got some good people helping her. I will try to help her. Hopefully we can get her somewhere where she can have some success, somewhere where she can get a fresh start," Dunkenberger said.

Reached by e-mail, Barbour declined to comment.

Barbour, from Charlottesville, burst into Blacksburg with 29 points against Liberty in just her third collegiate game and averaged 17.3 points and 4.1 rebounds a game in her first 14 games. She was named the ACC freshman of the week in the last week of December 2007.

But in her first ACC game, against Boston College on Jan. 3, Barbour suffered a partial dislocation of her shoulder. She missed one game with the injury and played the rest of the season with a brace. Still, she scored 20 points against N.C. State, 15 against No. 9 Duke and 24 against Maryland.

In mid-February, though, Barbour was suspended for three ACC games, against Miami, Virginia and Duke, for missing class and practice, Dunkenberger said at the time.

Barbour was voted to the ACC's all-freshman team and said at the ACC tournament that she planned to return to Virginia Tech this fall, but then left the team in the spring and missed the Hokies' trip to Greece and Italy.

Barbour rejoined the team and had surgery to repair her shoulder over the summer, Dunkenberger said. She said Barbour was "recovering nicely." Barbour had been expected to sit out until December to allow the shoulder to fully heal, Dunkenberger said.