The UVa. women’s basketball team (12-12, 5-6 ACC) fell 95-76 in a Friday (Feb. 14) road game at Georgia Tech (17-8, 7-5 ACC).
“We just dug ourselves a hole early and spent the whole game trying to recover,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “We didn’t come out and defend. We gave them easy looks at the basket. On the road, you need to set the tone early in a game and tonight we did not.”
Junior center Sarah Imovbioh (Abuja, Nigeria) matched her career high by scoring 21 points while also grabbing five rebounds. Senior guard Lexie Gerson (Fort Washington, Pa.) matched her season high with 18 points to go with eight rebounds.
Georgia Tech freshman guard Kaela Davis finished the game with 27 points. Davis, who made two three-pointers in the first minute of the game and five in the first half, scored 23 of her points in the opening period. Senior guard Tyaunna Marshall finished the game with 20 points, becoming the 24th player in ACC history to score 2,000 career points, while adding eight rebounds and seven assists.
Georgia Tech started the game making seven three-pointer on seven attempts in the first eight minutes of the game, taking a 27-12 lead. The Cavaliers cut the lead to 10, 39-29, on a layup by Gerson with 3:58 remaining in the half, but the Yellow Jackets answered with an 8-0 run. Georgia Tech went into the break with a 50-35 edge.
Virginia again cut the lead to 10 in the second half, 65-55, on a layup from Imovbioh with just over 12 minutes remaining, but Marshall scored six-straight points, the start of a 10-1 run that halted the Virginia surge. Georgia Tech shot 64.3 percent in the second half, making 18-of-28, while Virginia went 15-of-36 (41.7 percent).
Georgia Tech went 10-of-17 from three-point range (58.8 percent) in the game while the Cavaliers made 3-of-14 (21.4 percent). Eight of Georgia Tech long-range baskets came in the first half.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the boards, outrebounding the Cavaliers 47-28.
Virginia took a season-high seven charges in the game, including three by Imovbioh and two by senior guard Kelsey Wolfe (Germantown, Md.).
The game between the Cavaliers and Yellow Jackets was originally scheduled for Thursday (Feb. 13), but the combination of an ice storm in Atlanta and a snowstorm in Charlottesville caused the game to be pushed back to Friday.
The Cavaliers return home on Sunday, Feb. 16 when they host Virginia Tech at 2 p.m., in UVa’s annual Play4Kay Game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game as both squads will be wearing pink uniforms.
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 Mondaythrough 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).
Single-game ticket prices for all 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. Family Packages are available for $11 each and include a reserved ticket and a concessions voucher valued at $8. A minimum of four tickets must be purchased to receive package pricing.