UVA women’s basketball surges past Virginia Tech

The UVA women’s basketball team (16-11, 6-8 ACC) earned a 73-59 victory over Virginia Tech (10-17, 1-13 ACC) on Sunday (Feb. 22) at John Paul Jones Arena.

The victory for the Cavaliers snapped a four-game losing streak. It was also the 18th consecutive win for Virginia over Virginia Tech. UVa owns a 45-10 record all-time over the Hokies and is 20-2 in ACC contests.

“I’m just excited to get back in the win column,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “I thought we played a really good second half and really finished the game strong to come out with the win. I was really pleased with our effort in the second half and I thought our game management down the stretch was much better for us as well. We used the clock, got good shots, got to the free throw line, and made our free throws.”

Freshman guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) matched her season high with a 22-point performance, including going 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Venson also had three assists and four steals. Junior guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.) scored 17 points with four rebounds.

Virginia Tech’s Vanessa Panousis scored 17 points.

Virginia Tech held a 31-28 lead at halftime. In the 12th lead change of the game, Venson hit a jumper to start an 8-2 run that ended with UVa taking a 40-35 lead with 13:38 remaining. A length-of-the-court pass from sophomore guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) set up a wide-open layup for freshman guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.), helping to extend the Virginia lead to nine, 50-41, with 8:45 remaining. After Virginia Tech cut the difference to three points with four minutes remaining, Virginia scored six-straight points, including back-to-back scores by Randolph, to put UVa up 55-64 with 2:21 remaining.

The Cavaliers made nine free throws in the final two minutes to close out the victory.

Virginia committed 12 turnovers in the first half, but only two in the second period. The Cavaliers shot 56.0 percent (14-of-25) in the second half while going 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) before the break. UVa was 25-of-29 (86.2 percent) from the free throw line, including a 17-of-20 second-half performance.

The game was part of the 2014-15 Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529, which is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. Fans are also encouraged to support their team through a fan-based point. The school that accumulates 11.5 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. The Cavaliers now lead the Hokies, 7.0-2.5.

Virginia has two more games remaining before the ACC Tournament, playing at No. 17 North Carolina on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. before closing out the 2014-15 regular season on Sunday, March 1, hosting No. 8 Louisville at 1 p.m. The annual “Senior Day” ceremony, this year honoring Sarah Beth Barnette, will take place prior to the Louisville game.

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).