Women’s Basketball: Virginia falls 63-45 at Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash

The Virginia women’s basketball team (11-17, 5-10 ACC) fell 63-45 at Virginia Tech (18-10, 5-10 ACC) on Thursday at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.

Junior guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) led the team with 15 points. Regan Magarity scored 18 points with 17 rebounds for Virginia Tech with Taylor Emery scoring 19 points with six assists. Virginia shot 34.5 percent (19-of-55) and Virginia Tech shot 47.7 percent (21-of-44). Virginia held a 32-30 edge in rebounding.

Virginia Tech hit three three-pointers to open the game on a 9-0 run. The Cavaliers chipped away at the deficit, with sophomore guard Khyasia Caldwell (Pocono Summitt, Pa.) driving through the lane for six points in the first quarter to narrow the gap to 18-16. Virginia took a 21-20 lead on Caldwell’s fourth layup of the game with 8:09 remaining in the second quarter, but the Hokies answered with back-to-back baskets to retake the lead. Virginia Tech ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 33-24 lead into the halftime break. In a cold-shooting third quarter, the Hokies slowly built up an 8-0 run to take a 41-26 lead with 3:41 remaining in the period.

Virginia cut a 17-point deficit down to nine on an 8-0 run flanked by three-pointers from Willoughby and junior guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) in the fourth quarter, but the Hokies scored eight points in a 1:32 span to push the advantage out to 60-42 with 3:11 remaining.

Both teams traded threes in the final two minutes for the final 63-45 score.