The Virginia women’s basketball team (12-6, 2-2 ACC) fell 59-41 against No. 23 Louisville (13-5, 5-0 ACC) on Thursday (Jan. 14) at John Paul Jones Arena.
A 21-3 second-quarter run helped Louisville, which led the entire game, take a 33-18 lead into the halftime break. The Cardinals scored 25 points off 19 Virginia turnovers while the Cavaliers scored seven points off 13 Louisville miscues.
“This was a disappointing loss on our home floor,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. Louisville is a really good team, and we are still trying to find our way without Faith [Randolph]. I think you can just tell with us scoring 41 points that we need to become more confident. We also just did not have a flow. The ball constantly got stuck in one person’s hands, and then we tried to go one-on-one and there was no flow.”
Junior Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) scored 12 points, going 5-of-8 from the field. Sophomore Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) scored 13 points. Sophomore Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) scored six points with 11 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
Louisville’s Myisha Hines-Allen was one of four Cardinals to finish the game in double figures, scoring 16 points with seven rebounds.
Both teams started the game ice cold from the floor, with the Cardinals making just one of their first 11 shots and the Cavaliers going 0-of-6 to start the game. Redshirt sophomore J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) scored the first field goal of the game for the Cavaliers with 4:06 remaining in the first period.
Virginia scored the first four points of the second quarter, with a layup from Moses making it a two-point game, 12-10, with nine minutes left in the half. Louisville scored 14-straight points, with a deep three from Venson as the shot clock was expiring with 4:15 remaining temporarily halting the run, but the Cardinals went right back at it, extending the run to 21-3 to take a 33-13 lead with 1:29 left before the half. UVA scored five points in the period, including a three-pointer from Mason, to trail 33-18 at the half.
The Cavaliers matched the Cardinals basket-for-basket in the third, unable to cut into the deficit, and trailed 48-30 at the start of the fourth quarter. Each team scored 11 points in the final period.
Venson had all four of Virginia’s assists in the game. The Cavaliers had four blocked shots, all in the first quarter.
Louisville outrebounded the Cavaliers 34-29.
The Cavaliers travel to Georgia Tech this weekend, taking on the Yellow Jackets on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 2 p.m. followed by a Thursday, Jan. 21 game at No. 14 Florida State. Virginia will be back in action at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday, Jan. 24, hosting Pittsburgh at 1 p.m.
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).
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Chris Graham
