Virginia, on the heels of a nearly two-year ACC winless streak, won its second conference game in a row on Sunday, defeating Pitt, 74-65.
The W makes the decision to forfeit a rescheduled league game with Notre Dame even more vexing.
UVA (5-20, 2-15 ACC) opened the game on an 11-2 run and held a 36-28 lead at halftime. Pitt (11-16, 2-14 ACC) tied the game in the third quarter and held a one-point lead for 22 seconds, but the Cavaliers opened the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run to take back control of the contest.
Junior guard Taylor Valladay scored a career-high 30 points, the most by a Cavalier in a game this season, while also dishing seven assists. Sophomore guard Mir McLean scored 16 points with eight rebounds.
Pittsburgh had three players finish the game in double figures, led by 16-point games from Dayshanette Harris and Destiny Strother.
“I’m really, really excited for my team,” said Virginia coach Tina Thompson, who you have to think is on her way out at the end of the season, but hey, at least she got her team back into the win column in the past week.
“I think they’ve kind of found a groove and a rhythm,” Thompson said. “We’re learning that if we can execute consistently and be solid in our schemes, good things will happen. It’s something that we’ve been talking about all year and it’s starting to come into fruition. Playing this game tonight, it was a tough one. It was one of those games that you had to grind out. Both teams were making runs, but we stayed solid when it counted, and we didn’t panic. We didn’t become frustrated when things weren’t going our way, we just continued to execute in a way that allowed good things to happen for us, which led to a win so I’m really happy about that.”
Game Notes
- Virginia shot 51.2 percent (22-of-43); Pitt shot 37.7 percent (23-of-61)
- Virginia held a 33-31 edge in rebounding
- Pitt ranks ninth in the nation in rebounds per game (44.3), leading the ACC
- Mir McLean scored 8 points in the first quarter
- Taylor Valladay had all seven assists in the first half
- Valladay scored 13 points in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth
- Valladay was 11-of-19 from the field, 2-of-3 from three-point range and 6-of-8 from the free throw line
- This was the first 30-point game by a Cavalier since Kylie Kornegay-Lucas scored 31 against Old Dominion on Nov. 24, 2019
- Camryn Taylor had the previous season-high in scoring for the Cavaliers with 27 in the season-opener at JMU
- London Clarkson also finished the game in double figures, scoring 10 points, including going 6-of-8 from the free throw line. This is her fourth straight double-digit scoring effort
- McKenna Dale scored eight points with eight rebounds and four blocked shots
- Destiney Strother was 2-of-2, both three-pointers, in the first quarter. The rest of the Panthers were a combined 0-of-9
- Pitt only scored two points in the final 4:50 of the game
Virginia closes out the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 24 by hosting No. 24 North Carolina at 7 p.m. The game will be Virginia’s Senior Day celebration with Eleah Parker, Amandine Toi and Tihana Stojsavljevic being honored in a pregame ceremony at approximately 6:40 p.m.
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Chris Graham
