The UVA women’s basketball team (15-8, 4-6 ACC) fell 70-51 to No. 15 Duke (20-4, 8-3 ACC) on Sunday (Feb. 5) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers started the game on an 8-0 run, but the Blue Devils recovered from their slow start to outscore the Cavaliers 36-20 the remainder of the half as well as beginning the second half on a 17-2 run. Duke shot 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the field, while the Cavaliers went 20-of-55 (36.5 percent).
Freshman guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) was the only Cavalier to finish the game in double-figures, scoring 10 points. Junior forward Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) scored eight points with eight rebounds, while freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) scored eight points with seven rebounds.
Rebecca Greenwell led the Blue Devils with 21 points, going 7-of-10 from the field including 4-of-6 from three-point range, with a team-high six rebounds. Lexie Brown scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
“I was disappointed in our performance today,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “This game sticks out as the one all year where we did not look like ourselves. We tried to change defenses tonight like we always do. I thought we were locked in in previous games. I did not feel like we were locked in tonight at all. We had too many open people in transition, some of the best players not even being guarded, two people defending a post player and no one on their guards. Credit to Duke, they are an incredible team, and they capitalized today.”
Duke outscored the Cavaliers 30-12 in the paint. The Blue Devils scored 26 off Virginia turnovers.
Virginia started the game on an 8-0 run, including back-to-back three-pointers from Toussaint, but the Blue Devils went on a 23-3 run. Senior guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) ended the run with a jumper with five seconds remaining to go into the second quarter trailing 23-13. Duke went 8-of-9 from the field in the final 6:31 of the period while the Cavaliers were 2-of-10 in that same span.
In the second quarter, the two teams traded baskets until Mason and junior guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) hit back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to six, 32-26, but the Blue Devils countered and built the lead back to double-digits on a layup from Oderah Chidom with 44 seconds remaining. Willoughby hit a jumper with 18 seconds remaining to send the Cavaliers into the break trailing 36-28.
Greenwell scored the first eight points of the second half, increasing the Duke advantage to 44-28. Mason temporarily halted Duke’s run, picking up an offensive rebound off of her own miss and scoring a jumper in the paint with 6:41 left in the period. The Blue Devils went on to outscore UVA 17-2 in the first eight minutes of the period. Virginia went 1-of-9 from the field to start the quarter while Duke made seven of 11 attempts. Virginia trailed 59-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers put together a 7-0 run during the fourth quarter with Toussaint’s third three of the game flanked by buckets from Willoughby and Moses to cut the deficit to 20, 63-43, with 5:36 remaining. Huland El hit a three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 19, 70-51. Virginia outscored Duke 17-11 in the final quarter.
Duke has won the last 25 consecutive meetings between the two teams and is 30-1 in the last 31 meetings.
The Cavaliers will be back on the road next week, playing at No. 16 Miami on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. Virginia returns to John Paul Jones Arena to host Wake Forest on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.
Single-game ticket prices for all home games are $10 for Reserved seating, $8 for adult General Admission and $6 for youth (18 & under), senior (60 & over) and UVA faculty/staff General Admission. Fans may purchase home game tickets through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office online at VirginiaSports.com, by phone and in person. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is located in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Telephone purchases can be made by calling 1-800-542-UVA1 (8821) or locally at 434-924-UVA1 (8821).
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