The Virginia women’s basketball team (3-0, 0-0 ACC) earned a 69-52 road victory at Auburn (2-1, 0-0 SEC) on Thursday (Nov. 19) in Auburn, Ala.
A big first-quarter from senior Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.), a double-digit second quarter by sophomore Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) and a career-high 20 points from sophomore Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) helped the Cavaliers earn their second road win of the season and improve to 3-0 overall.
“I thought we were very confident tonight,” head coach Joanne Boyle said. “After we let ourselves warm up for about two or three minutes, I thought we played well. We did a great job of really shooting the ball. We attacked and got the defense going. Overall, for about three and half quarters, we did a good job.”
Randolph finished the game with 15 points, with eight of those coming in the first quarter. Venson scored 14 points, including 10 in the second quarter. Huland El came off the bench to make 6-of-15 attempts from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line to tally her career-high 20 points.
Auburn’s Janiah McKay came off the Auburn bench to lead the team with 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
Auburn led 8-5 with four minutes remaining in the first period when Randolph went on her scoring spree, hitting a jumper followed by back-to-back threes, including a buzzer beater as the period ended to give UVA a 10-8 lead.
The Cavaliers outscored the Tigers 28-12 in the second period, with UVA making seven of its last eight shots to close out the half beginning with back-to-back three-pointers from Venson and Huland El to take a 41-22 lead into the break.
Auburn opened the second half by scoring eight-straight points, with a pair of free throws from Huland El followed by a layup from junior guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) halting the run. Virginia started the third period 2-of-13 shooting, allowing the Tigers to cut their deficit to nine, 47-38, before an and-one from Randolph increased the UVA lead back up to double-digits, 50-38. Virginia scored nine points in the final 1:06of the period to take a 56-38 lead into the final quarter.
Auburn outscored Virginia 14-13 in the final quarter.
The Tigers had a 43-39 edge in rebounding. Virginia shot 44.8 percent in the first half (13-of-29) but only made 9-of-34 (26.5 percent) in the final two quarters to shoot 34.9 percent for the game. Auburn shot 34.4 percent.
Virginia returns home to host Longwood on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. before heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands to compete in the Paradise Jam Tournament over Thanksgiving week.
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
