Women’s Basketball: Florida State dominates Virginia, wins 62-37

Virginia shot an anemic 24.4 percent in a dispiriting 62-37 loss at Florida State on Sunday (Jan. 30) at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla.

The Cavaliers (3-15, 0-8 ACC) got 10 points from Amandine Toi.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams with five lead changes and three ties. A three-pointer from Toi gave the Cavaliers a 9-6 advantage midway through the period, but the Seminoles retook the lead and held a 14-11 advantage heading into the second quarter.

The two teams continued to battle in the second period with a jumper from junior guard Taylor Valladay making it a 16-13 deficit for the Cavaliers with 7:59 remaining in the half. It would be the last field goal the Cavaliers would make in the period with Florida State building up a 28-16 halftime lead.

Toi ended the Cavaliers’ shooting drought by hitting a three-pointer 14 seconds into the second half, however it failed to ignite a rally. It was almost another five minutes before Valladay would make UVA’s second field goal of the period, a jumper at the 4:51 mark. Florida State led 35-21 after the Valladay jumper. Florida State would score the final 13 points of the quarter, the end of a 20-2 run, to lead 48-21 heading into the final frame.

“We’re disappointed in our effort tonight,” UVA coach Tina Thompson said. “We started that first quarter kind of doing the things that we talked about – our game plan offensively and defensively – and something happened. And we just kind of went away from all the things that were necessary for us to stay in this game and give ourselves an opportunity to win.

“It’s almost like a broken record. I’m saying the same things over and over again. But the reality is that what it is going to take to win in this conference. You have to be disciplined. You have to execute. You have to defend. We have the ability to do so. We just have to decide that we’re going to do it over and over and over again.”