Women’s basketball: UVA tops Charlotte, 65-61

The UVA women’s basketball team (6-7, 0-0 ACC) closed out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 65-61 victory over Charlotte (8-4, 0-0 C-USA) on Sunday (Dec. 30) at John Paul Jones Arena.

Junior forward Lisa Jablonwoski (Ernster, Luxembourg) scored a career-high 17 points to lead the Cavaliers, one of three players to finish in double figures. Mariah Linney led the 49ers with 20 points. Virginia shot 37.5 percent (21-of-56) while Charlotte shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60). Charlotte held a 38-37 edge in rebounding.

The two teams were tied at 25 at halftime after five ties and four lead changes in the first two quarters. The Cavaliers came out of the locker room on fire, ignited by a three-pointer from junior guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) that began a 16-2 run to open the period, including scoring 13-straight points, to take a 41-27 lead.

Charlotte chipped away at the lead, narrowing the gap to seven points in the third quarter, and making an even bigger charge in the fourth by starting the period on a 10-3 run to pull to within four, 54-50, with 5:57 remaining, but junior guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) ended the run by draining a corner three.

Virginia took advantage of a three-and-a-half minute scoring drought by Charlotte to build up an eight point lead, 63-55, with 34 seconds remaining, but the Niners hit a three-pointer and then converted an and-one with 5.5 seconds remaining to narrow the gap to three. Jablonowski hit a free throw to make it a two-possession game and the Cavaliers held on for the victory.