Women’s Basketball: Virginia loses to American at JPJ, 69-56

Virginia suffered a 69-56 loss against American on Tuesday at John Paul Jones Arena

The Eagles (6-2) were hot from long range, making 10 three-pointers, to pick up the road win.

Grad student guard Amandine Toi lead the Cavaliers (3-7) with 12 points while also dishing five assists. Junior forward Camryn Taylor scored 11 points. Junior point guard Taylor Valladay led the defensive efforts with a team-high eight rebounds while scoring six points with five assists.

Riley DeRubbo was one of four American players to finish the game in double figures, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long range. Emily Fisher also scored 12 points, going 2-fo-3 from three.

American hit a pair of three-pointers to open the game with a 6-2 lead. The Cavaliers battled back to tie and take the lead on a pair of free throws from junior guard Carole Miller with 2:29 remaining in the quarter, but another three-pointer from the Eagles put the visitors back in the lead.

The Eagles hit a fourth three-pointer with a minute left in the period and closed out the quarter with an and-one to build a 17-11 lead. They started the second with a layup to take a 19-11 lead. After a steal and fastbreak layup from Toi narrowed the gap to five, 24-19, with 3:19 remaining, American scored six straight to build up a double-digit advantage.

A putback layup that turned into an and-one from sophomore guard Aaliyah Pitts in the final five seconds of the quarter cut the halftime deficit to 29-22.

Taylor started the second half by making a layup 19 seconds into the period. A putback from junior forward London Clarkson made it a 33-29 game while another from grad student center Eleah Parker got the Cavaliers to within two, 34-32, but the Eagles built back up a six-point advantage, 40-34, with 4:22 remaining. American went on an 11-0 run to build up a 51-36 lead.

Miller ended Virginia’s scoring drought by making a layup with 22 seconds left in the quarter.

American held a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to single digits after a layup from Lawson followed by an and-one from Taylor and another Taylor layup that made it 61-53 with 2:40 remaining. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to eight, 64-56, with 26 seconds remaining, but

American went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch and the Cavaliers could not convert on the offensive end.