In a matchup of two of the more underrated teams in women’s hoops, Duke walked away with the W, knocking off previously unbeaten Virginia, 70-56, on Wednesday.
Duke (11-1, 1-0 ACC) led 38-26 at the break, and maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half.
Virginia (12-1, 1-1 ACC) got 11 points from Alexia Smith and 10 from Sam Brunelle.
The Cavaliers struggled on offense all night, shooting just 32.1 percent (18-of-56).
“Obviously, this was a disappointing loss, but I want to give credit to Kara Lawson and her team. I thought they played well,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “I thought they wanted it more than us tonight. They were very physical, defended our high level, which we expected, but I thought we made a lot of self-inflicted errors.
“If you lose a game and you die trying, that’s easier to walk away from then not giving your best effort. If we gave our best effort, stuck to the game plan, you know, the 50/50 balls, and rebounded it like we should, then we walk away with a valiant effort with our head high, but I don’t think we did,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We just weren’t in sync at all. We didn’t play as aggressive as I wanted us to play and together. That’s the biggest thing. I thought we were individuals out there. We only had five assists on the night, which is very uncharacteristic.”
The Cavaliers have an eight-day break for the holidays before returning to action by hosting Georgia Tech on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.
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Chris Graham
