The Virginia women’s basketball team (13-10, 3-6 ACC) dropped a 67-52 road game at Duke (17-7, 6-4 ACC) on Thursday (Feb. 4) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
A 13-point third quarter from sophomore Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) helped cut a 17-point halftime deficit to six points, 51-45, with 3:12 remaining in that period, but the Blue Devils outscored the Cavaliers 16-7 the remainder of the game to hand UVA its fourth-straight loss.
Venson finished the game with 22 points, four assists and four steals. Redshirt sophomore J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.), in her first career start, scored 11 points.
Duke’s Rebecca Greenwell scored 25 points with 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Virginia shot 33.9 percent (21-of-62) while Duke went 27-of-51 (52.9 percent). The Blue Devils outrebounded the Cavaliers 44-22.
“Rebounding has been a problem and was again today,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “We really worked hard to be more vocal on offense because we need to call out things and be deliberate on things. We just got rattled, weren’t making calls and just taking bad shots. The offense was just stagnant so that really hurt us along with not rebounding the ball.”
Virginia led 12-5 with 6:50 remaining in the first quarter, but the Cavaliers did not score again in the period, going 0-of-9 from the field with five turnovers while the Blue Devils scored 15 unanswered points to take a 20-12 lead. Venson ended an 8:52 scoreless span for the Cavaliers with a pull-up jumper 2:02 into the second quarter. The Blue Devils outscored UVA 23-14 in the second quarter to hold a 43-26 lead at halftime.
Fueled by five points from Venson and four from sophomore Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.), the Cavaliers started the second half on an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 45-37 with 6:14 remaining in the third quarter. Venson hit her third three of the quarter to narrow the gap to six, 49-43. Greenwell hit a jumper at the buzzer to extend the Blue Devils’ lead back out to 56-45 at the end of the quarter.
Virginia went ice cold in the fourth quarter, making just one of its first nine field goal attempts and having a 6:35 scoreless gap until a fastbreak layup and a three-pointer from Brown ended the drought.
Duke outscored UVA 30-16 in the paint. The Cavalier bench contributed just two points while Duke’s non-starters scored 20 points.
Duke was playing without its leading scorer Azura Stevens who suffered a left foot injury in Mondaynight’s game against Notre Dame.
The Cavaliers will be back at home at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday, Feb. 7 hosting Virginia Tech at2 p.m. Sunday’s game is a Commonwealth Clash game. The Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529 is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. This year’s current score is UVA 3.5 and VT 3.
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
