Women’s Basketball: Virginia falls to No. 16 Georgia Tech, 67-31

The Virginia women’s basketball team a 67-31 loss at No. 16 Georgia Tech on Sunday at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.

This was the Cavaliers’ first game since Dec. 19, a three-week break due to cancelations and postponements

The Cavaliers (3-9, 0-2 ACC) trailed by just seven at halftime, but Georgia Tech (11-3, 1-1 ACC) went on a 32-2 run in the third and fourth quarters to take over the game.

Grad student guard Amandine Toi and junior guard Carole Miller each scored eight points. Junior forward Meg Jefferson and junior guard McKenna Dale each grabbed five rebounds.

Nerea Hermosa led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points.

A free throw from Miller with 39.2 seconds remaining in the half ended the Yellow Jackets’ 10-0 scoring run and sent the game into the break with a 26-19 score in favor of Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets hit a three-pointer to start the third quarter, extending its lead to double figures for the first time. After a three-pointer from Miller at the 7:13 mark, the Cavaliers missed their final eight shots of the quarter as Georgia Tech found its stroke, finishing the period on an 18-0 run. They continued extending the lead in the fourth quarter hitting another pair of field goals before Miller ended UVA’s scoreless streak with a pair of free throws at the 8:14 mark.

Toi hit a three-pointer with 3:45 remaining in the game to end an 0-of-11 shooting stretch that spanned 13:28 across the third and fourth quarters.

“An extremely tough one for us,” UVA coach Tina Thompson said. “We came out in the first half and we executed, we defended we basically followed our game plan and then something happened in the second half. We just could not get back on track and we were just very discombobulated. It’s not like they were doing anything different. But we decided to make no unjustified adjustments and just got into a place where we just kind of couldn’t get back to where we were and then we were basically defeated.

“Now we’re going to go back to the drawing board and do what we do and continue to work at it but we just can’t go into games like that without executing consistently and expect to have good results,” Thompson said.

Virginia returns to John Paul Jones Arena on Thursday to host No. 5 NC State. The game streams on ACCNX and tips at 7 p.m.