UVa. women win at Richmond

The Virginia women’s basketball team earned a 69-56 road win at in-state foe Richmond on Sunday (Dec. 4) afternoon at the Robins Center. Virginia improved to 7-2 on the season and won its second-consecutive contest.

The loss was Richmond’s second of the season. The Spiders now have a 6-2 overall record.

“We’ve worked hard on our zone defenses throughout the year and using our length to the best of our ability,” UVa head coach Joanne Boyle said. “Richmond was the first team to get us out of that zone. I think in our man-to-man defense we disrupted them a lot so I thought our team did a good job with that. We’ve got to come out of the gate better and I think we have too many lapses during that time.”

Senior guard Ariana Moorer (Woodbridge, Va.) led Virginia by matching a season-high and scoring 17 points. Moorer scored at least 10 points for the seventh-consecutive contest and was the Cavaliers’ high-scorer for the third time this season.

Fellow senior Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) turned in a 14-point, four-rebound performance and sophomore Ataira Franklin (Bowie, Md.) scored 10 points, including two key 3-pointers late in the game that helped seal the UVa victory.

The Cavaliers led 39-34 at halftime. Moorer finished the half with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting including two 3-pointers. Lexie Gerson (Fort Washington, Pa.) drained a 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining in the half to put the Cavaliers up, 39-31, but Richmond guard Abby Oliver was fouled on her ensuing 3-point attempt and made the free throws with 2.6 seconds left to pull the Spiders within five points at the break.

Shine started the second half with back-to-back baskets for the Cavaliers that extended UVa’s lead to 43-35 at the 17:52 mark. Gerson’s steal and transition lay-up at the 14:39 mark gave Virginia its first double-digit lead of the game, 48-38.

A jumper by Richmond’s Liz Brown at 9:01 mark cut the UVa lead to 55-46, prompting a timeout by the Cavaliers. Following the timeout, Richmond continued to chip away at the lead and scored back-to-back baskets to pull within five points at 55-50 with 7:01 to play.

Shine scored on the next possession for Virginia to put Virginia up, 57-50. Richmond did not get closer than five down the stretch.

Virginia won its third-consecutive contest against Richmond and improved to 13-3 all-time vs. the Spiders. Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle was the head coach at Richmond from 2002-05.

“It’s a place where I started my coaching career and I have fond memories of this place,” Boyle said. [Richmond head coach] Michael’s [Shafer] done a great job with his team and they play hard.”

Virginia forced 23 Richmond turnovers and scored 20 points off of those turnovers. The Cavaliers held a 28-18 advantage in points in the paint.