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Women’s Basketball: Virginia loses to Syracuse in ACC Tournament

Chris Graham

UVA women’s basketballA Jocelyn Willoughby three got Virginia back to single digits, but Syracuse closed the game out on a 9-0 run to conclude a 67-50 win in the second round of the 2020 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro on Thursday.

UVA (13-17) missed its final 15 shots and finished with 26 turnovers in the sloppy loss, concluding a second consecutive losing season under coach Tina Thompson.

“Well, it’s tough to lose like this, you know, especially with the heartfelt season that we had,” Thompson said after the defeat. “We just weren’t ourselves and when you’re in the tournament, it’s not the time to not be yourselves. You have to come in kind of being your best selves and playing your best game, especially to have to win night after night after night, and we just weren’t. We turned the ball over way too many times to be successful. Our effort was there, but just did not turn into the positive intentions that we were wanting and hoping for.”

Syracuse (16-15), which had lost by 16 to Virginia in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting, got 15 points from Amaya Finklea-Guity, who was one of five Orange players in double figures.

Willoughby scored 13 points with 12 rebouds for Virginia, while Lisa Jablonowski had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Dominique Toussaint also capped her UVA career with a double-digit scoring performance, contributing 12 points.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].