Virginia erased an early 15-point deficit on the way to its 81-59 victory over Tulane in the opening game of the inaugural Cayman Islands Classic Friday afternoon.
UVA’s come-from-behind victory marked its largest since trailing by as many as 19 points in the Hoos’ 62-58 win over Virginia Tech in 2019.
The Cavaliers (4-1) received a huge lift from their bench, which finished Friday’s game with 49 points. Among those was Yonta Vaughn, who finished with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three-point range.
Sam Brunelle (12 points, 4-of-5 3FG) and Alexia Smith (10 points, 4-of-5 FG) also scored in double figures off the bench.
Kymora Johnson dished out a season-high nine assists, the most by a Cavalier since the 2021-2022 season.
Tulane (3-2) led 24-12 at the end of the first quarter after shooting 50 percent from the floor, while the Hoos shot just 31 percent.
The Cavaliers scored the first 14 points of the second quarter to take the lead [26-24] at the 6:01 mark. The Green Wave would tie the score at 26-26 one last time before a made three-point by Brunelle gave the ‘Hoos the lead for good.
Virginia, leading 36-34 at the half, opened the second half by scoring the first 10 points to grasp a comfortable lead. The Cavaliers continued to pile on throughout the rest of the quarter to ultimately lead by 21.
The Green Wave would only get as close as 16 points [68-52] midway through the quarter.
The Cavaliers return to John Gray Gymnasium to take on reigning national champion and No. 7 LSU (5-1). Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. on FloHoops and WINA (98.9/1070).
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Chris Graham
