Virginia, under .500, its postseason hopes not even on life support, is playing for pride. The ‘Hoos showed some pride on Sunday in Blacksburg.
UVA shot 57.4 percent from the floor and took control in the fourth quarter in an 86-76 win over Virginia Tech.
The loss is damaging for the Hokies (20-7, 10-6 ACC), which fell into a three-way tie for fourth in the conference standings.
Virginia (12-15, 7-9 ACC) notched its fourth win in its last six games.
“I am extremely proud of our team. I think this is probably the first game all season where we started the game that we wanted, the way we wanted to, but also finished the game we wanted to win,” Virginia coach Tina Thompson said.
The Cavaliers led by as many as 13 in the first half, but Virginia Tech closed to within 45-40 at halftime, and an Elizabeth Kitley layup put the Hokies up 65-64 one minute into the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back buckets from Dominique Toussaint and Joceyln Willoughby put UVA back in front, and Virginia clamped down on the defensive end, holding the Hokies to 13 points in the fourth quarter amd 36.7 percent shooting for the game.
“Even when the other team made a run, we didn’t put our head down or anything like that,” Thompson said. “They continued to say, ‘We’re alright, we’re good, we will weather the storm and continue to be who we are’.”
Toussaint and Willoughby each scored 29 points for Virginia.
Aisha Sheppard of Virginia Tech scored 32 points, going 10-of-22 overall from the field and 8-of-15 from three-point range.
Story by Chris Graham
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