Women’s basketball: Virginia defeats Clemson, 65-48

The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-13, 5-9 ACC) earned a 65-48 victory over Clemson (4-23, 0-14 ACC) on Sunday (Feb. 21) at John Paul Jones Arena in the annual Play4Kay pink game.

Clemson tied the game, 33-33, with 5:46 remaining in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers answered with a 32-8 run to put the game out of reach.

“I feel like we came out really focused and ready our previous two games, something that didn’t happen today, but I was proud of how they came back in the third quarter and how we played a much better second half,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “No team in the ACC is ever going to hand over a game, but we finally got some stops and finished. We started to hit some buckets and we stretched the lead a little bit. We had balance in our scoring, which makes a big difference. Our posts weren’t scoring today so we ended up playing a lot of four-guard line up. We tried to take advantage of some of the mismatches there.”

Senior guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.), in her third game back after missing nine games with a broken thumb, logged the first double-double of her career, scoring 13 points with a career-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) scored a game-high 18 points. Junior Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) and sophomore Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J) both scored 13 points, with Mason going 5-of-8 from the field and Huland El 5-of-7.

Clemson’s Aliyah Collier scored a team-high 13 points while also leading the Tigers in rebounding with nine.

Virginia shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) while the Tigers were 16-of-59 (27.1 percent). Clemson held a 42-40 edge in rebounding.

Venson got off to a strong start, scoring seven of Virginia’s first nine points, but the Tigers matched the Cavaliers score-for-score and trailed 13-11 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Tigers went five full minutes without making a field goal as the Cavaliers stretched the lead to seven, 23-16. Clemson ended the drought with a jumper followed by a pair of free throws to make it a 23-20 game. The two teams traded three-pointers before Randolph had an and-one with 22 seconds remaining in the half to send the Cavaliers into the break with a 29-23 lead.

UVA held a 33-27 advantage with just over six minutes remaining in the third when the Tigers’ Victoria Cadaci and Danielle Edwards hit back-to-back threes in a 20 second span that tied the game, 33-33, with 5:46left in the quarter. Virginia responded with a 10-0 run that began with a Randolph and-one and was capped by Huland El’s second trey of the game, putting the Cavaliers ahead 43-33.

The Cavaliers dominated the fourth quarter, limiting Clemson to one made-field-goal in the first 8:26 of the period and mounting a 20-2 run to take a 65-41 lead with just under two minutes remaining. The Tigers scored the final seven points of the game to finish with a 65-48 final.

The Cavaliers, who lead the ACC in free throw shooting percentage, had another strong performance at the line, making 11 of 13 attempts, including Randolph going 7-of-8. Clemson went 12-of-21 from the stripe.

The Cavaliers have one more home game on the schedule for this season, hosting North Carolina onThursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. There will be a short Senior Day ceremony before the game honoring UVA’s lone fourth-year, guard Faith Randolph.

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 openMonday 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).