Women's Basketball Claims 78-65 Win over Florida International
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Dec. 20, 2001
Charlottesville, Va. – Senior Telisha Quarles (Louisa, Va.) recorded her 1,000th career point while pacing Virginia to a 78-65 win over Florida International on Thursday evening.
With 5:35 to go in the first half, the 5-8 guard nailed a jumper for her the milestone. Finishing with a career-high 28 points, Quarles became just the 20th player in Virginia women’s basketball history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. She now has 1,020 points in her 102-game UVa career.
“I was feeling really good tonight,” Quarles said. “I felt a lot of energy from my teammates. They were more excited about it than I was.”
“It’s a great milestone and only a few players have done that,” said sophomore Anna Crosswhite (Castlecrag, Australia). “It’s one of our teammates. She’s helping us win, and we appreciate that.”
The Cavaliers improved 6-4 overall, while the Golden Panthers fell to 7-3 overall. The win also marked the 550th victory in head coach Debbie Ryan’s 25-year career. She stands 550-200 (.733) as the Cavaliers’ mentor.
In the first half, Virginia jumped out to a 13-point advantage, 27-14 with 8:14 to go. But Florida International chipped away to come within two at intermission, 36-34.
In the second half, the Cavaliers upped their lead to as many as 18 points, 68-50 with 6:05 remaining.
“We’ve done a good job being resilient,” Ryan said of team’s ability to re-build its lead. “That shows a lot of character.”
Following Quarles’ career night, freshman Brandi Teamer (Joliet, Ill.) recorded her third career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Anna Prillaman (Midlothian, Va.) added 11 points. The Cavaliers shot a season-best 51 percent from the field, converting 27-53.
“That was one of her better games,” Ryan said of Quarles. “When you have six assists and three steals, you’re doing a lot of good things for the team.”
Gergana Slavtcheva led the Golden Panthers with 33 points while playing all 40 minutes. Cormisha Cotton and Cheryl Moody each chipped in 10 points.
Overall, FIU held the rebounding edge, 38-31.
“We didn’t execute when we needed to,” said FIU assistant coach DiDi Cotton. “Virginia had some nice runs and was good in transition. They put the ball in the basket.”
Following a short holiday break, Virginia travels to New Orleans for Tulane’s DoubleTree Classic on Dec. 28-29. In first round action, UVa takes on Long Island on Friday, Dec. 28 at 8 p.m. CT (9 p.m. ET). Charlottesville’s WINA Radio (1070 AM) will broadcast the game live.
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 1 2 - FinalFla. International (7-3) 34 31 - 65Virginia (6-4) 36 42 - 78
Other ACC scores from tonight:
#8 Duke 95, Liberty 53
#23 South Carolina 85, #17 North Carolina 53
Clemson 68, Charleston Southern 48