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Virginia Finishes Regular Season With 86-85 Win at Clemson
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Feb. 25, 2007
CLEMSON, S.C. – The Virginia Cavaliers closed the regular season with an 86-85 win at Clemson on Sunday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Virginia improved to 16-13 overall and 5-9 in ACC play, while the Tigers fell to 12-19 overall and 4-10 in the league.
Clemson led the entire first half. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a nine-point lead, 12-3. UVa came back with a 14-5 run to tie the game at 17-17. CU then went ahead again by 11 points, 34-23. The Cavaliers utilized a 17-6 run over the final four minutes, jump started with a three by senior Brenna McGuire (Winchester, Mass.) and two buckets from freshman Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) and sophomore Lyndra Littles (Washington, D.C.). The teams entered the locker room tied at 40-40.
Junior Sharnee Zoll (Marlboro, N.J.) opened the second half with a three-pointer to give UVa its first lead. Littles added eight straight t points of her own. The `Hoos went ahead by six, 53-47, but CU came back. The teams battled within two points until the very end. With 15 seconds remaining, Zoll nailed both ends of a one-and-one to put the Cavaliers up by four, 86-82. Clemson nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to fall by one.
“I was really proud of our effort at the end,” Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan said. “Defense of the last two possessions was good. We finished the game well, and that’s what matters.”
Littles paced UVa with her 14th double-double of the season (19th of her career) with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Wright followed with 24 points and eight boards, while McGuire finished with 12 points. Senior Siedah Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) added 10 points, and Zoll added seven points and 10 assists, marking her fifth double-digit assist performance of the season.
“Overall, we were very mature today,” McGuire said. “We wanted to prove that (the loss at) Georgia Tech was a fluke. You could see team unity all over the court today. It was great that we ended the season like this.”
D’Lesha Lloyd led Clemson with 18 points. Lele Hardy followed with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, UVa out-rebounded CU, 42-29.
Virginia now awaits the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket announcement. The seedings will be announced tonight following the conclusion of all competition.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
1 2 - FinalVirginia (16-13, 5-9) 40 46 - 86Clemson (12-18, 4-10) 40 45 - 85