Story Links
May 28, 2007
LA PALMAS, Gran Canaria – The Virginia women’s basketball team claimed a 73-67 win over host Caja Canaria in the first exhibition game of UVa’s international tour on Monday evening in the Canary Islands.
Fueled by starters Lyndra Littles (Washington, D.C.), Paulisha Kellum (Upper Marlboro, Md.), Sharnee Zoll (Marlboro, N.J.), Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.), and Abby Robertson (Springfield, Va.), the Cavaliers jumped out to a quick 12-point lead in the first quarter, 22-10. The `Hoos pushed their lead to 13 points, 42-29 late in the second quarter before leading by 10 points, 42-32 at intermission.
UVa pushed its lead to 14 points, 48-34, to open the third quarter. Caja Canaria closed the stanza amidst an 11-4 run to come within three, 58-55, on its first bucket of the fourth quarter. Three-point buckets by Zoll and guard Britnee Millner (Martinsville, Va.) gave UVa a nine-point advantage. Caja then held the `Hoos scoreless over a four-minute period while racking up eight points to cut the lead to one, 68-67 with 2:53 to go in the game. The Cavaliers scored the game’s final five points to seal the win.
All 10 Cavaliers saw playing time. Littles paced UVa with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds. Millner came off the bench for 13 points and five boards, while Wright finished with 11 points and seven steals. Robertson added 10 points, seven boards, and a block.
In her first appearance in a Virginia uniform, junior All-American Aisha Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) scored nine points and added a team-best 12 rebounds, two steals, and a block.
Under the direction of Domingo Diaz, the Spanish National Team head coach, four Caja players netted double-digit scoring. Alamo paced the squad with 17 points, while Rodriguez and Cabrera added 14 points each. Cabrera nailed four three-point buckets. Montesdecca had 11 points.
Overall, UVa out-rebounded CC, 47-22. The Cavaliers shot 10-of-12 from the free throw line, while Caja was 9-of-13.
In its next exhibition game Virginia visits club team Tara on Tuesday, May 29 at 6 p.m.
NOTE: In exhibition play, Virginia will compete its exhibition games using international rules. Differences between NCAA play include: four 10-minute quarters; eight-second backcourt rule;one timeout (24 seconds) per quarter, called by head coach only.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION TOUR
GAME #1
1 2 3 4 - FinalVirginia (1-0) 29 13 16 15 - 72Caja Canaria 17 15 20 15 - 67
Virginia Stats: PT RB A ST BLLyndra Littles, F 21 11 0 2 0Paulisha Kellum, G 0 1 3 1 1Sharnee Zoll, G 6 2 6 2 1Monica Wright, G 11 6 3 7 0Abby Robertson, C 10 7 2 1 1Lauren Carson 0 0 0 0 0Britnee Millner 13 5 0 3 0Tara McKnight 3 5 0 3 0Jayna Hartig 0 2 2 0 0Aisha Mohammed 9 12 0 2 1Team totals 73 47 16 18 4
POST GAME QUOTES
Debbie Ryan, Virginia head coach
On the play of Aisha Mohammed:
“I think she really did a nice job on the boards for us tonight. And you could see that she’s a force inside defensively. She finishes well around the basket, and she’s relentless on the boards. You better box her out, because she’s extremely strong, and she’s going to be able to pick up an offensive rebound and put it back in. This was her first game, and she’s only had a few practices, so it will be an interesting two years for her.”
On Britnee Millner:
“Britnee got good, strong playing time tonight. She played very solid for us, threw in a couple of threes. I thought she did a great job and was very, very consistent for us. And that’s what I was looking for- a good consistence performance, and she did it at both ends.”
On Abby Robertson:
“Abby has a more offensive mind to her now, and she was really trying to put the ball in the basket. I thought she played a consistent game from start to finish.”
Lyndra Littles
What was different about Caja Canaria compared to U.S. teams?
“That they could carry the ball, and they were getting away with traveling. It was just a different type of officiating. On top of that, they spoke Spanish, so it’s different, because when they were talking, we had no idea what they were talking about.”
Did the international rules effect the way UVa played the game?
“No. Obviously when it comes down to it, it was a basketball game. They got away with the carrying and the traveling, but this is their country, and the (changes in) rules are going to effect to us more than them.”
Aisha Mohammed
How did it feel to finally wear a Virginia uniform in a game?
“It felt really good, because it’s my first time to wear a Virginia uniform. I was so excited to wear it.”
Domingo Diaz, Caja Canaria head coach (through an interpreter)
What did you think of Virginia?
“I got the impression that they are a very young team with a lot of underclassmen. You could tell by the way they played today that they haven’t played since the post season. A lot of the plays and sets that they ran are not crisp right now.”
“In comparison to European basketball teams, physically they are very superior to our girls. You can tell that they’ve worked on that aspect of their game.”
Follow the Cavaliers’ International Tour:
VirginiaSports.com
Click on the Women’s Basketball in Africa banner.