The UVA women’s basketball team (5-1, 0-0 ACC) picked up a 73-51 victory over against Nebraska (3-3, 0-0 Big Ten) on Saturday (Nov. 26) in the final game of the South Point Shootout tournament at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Senior forward Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) earned all-tournament honors after scoring a game-high 19 points, going 8-of-12 from the field. Junior guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.J.) came off the bench to score 11 points with a game-high nine rebounds. Jessica Shepard led the Cornhuskers with 12 points, adding three assists and four rebounds.
The Cavaliers led 40-26 at the break and put the game out of reach in the third quarter when they outscored Nebraska 23-8. The Cavaliers shot 50 percent or better in each of the first three quarters, including converting 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) of their field goal attempts in the first quarter. Virginia shot 47.6 percent overall (30-of-63) while the Cornhuskers were 19-of-54 (35.2 percent). UVA held a 43-32 advantage in rebounding.
“This is the team we have been working towards being all year,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “It was a great game by everybody. I was glad that everyone had a chance to play. I thought we were on-point defensively and in rebounding. We shared the ball well. The reason we made shots was the ball moved and we were taking rhythm shots. Lauren played an unbelievable game on both sides of the ball. We came out here to win two games. We split, but I am really proud of them. They could have quit. They could have folded, but they didn’t. They came out really strong and forgot all about yesterday.”
The Cavaliers started the game making five of their first six field goal attempts and had a balanced offensive attack with seven different players scoring in the first period. Freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) scored six of Virginia’s first 10 points and junior guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) also contributed six early points as UVA built up a 23-16 advantage.
In the second quarter, the Huskers narrowed the gap to five, 28-23, on an and-one by Esther Ramacieri midway through the period. Moses started a 9-0 run with a layup at 5:01 and capped it with a jumper at 2:20 to give UVA a 37-23 advantage. The Cavaliers took a 40-26 lead into the break.
Virginia broke open the game in the third quarter with a 19-4 run, including back-to-back three-pointers from Brown.
Virginia sat most of its starting lineup in the fourth quarter with the Cornhuskers going on a 13-2 run to close out the game. Redshirt freshman Shakyna Payne (Acworth, Ga.) made her belated collegiate debut, playing the final seven minutes of the game.
UVA next will play at Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Thursday, Dec. 1 before heading to Bowling Green on Sunday, Dec. 4 for their last game before breaking for finals. The Cavaliers return to John Paul Jones on Friday, December 16when they host UIC.
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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Chris Graham
