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May 29, 2007
LA PALMAS, Gran Canaria – The Virginia women’s basketball team notched its second win in as many days with a 99-54 win over Tara de Telde in the second exhibition game of UVa’s international tour on Tuesday evening in the Canary Islands.
The Cavaliers stand 2-0 on their foreign tour.
Receiving the starting nod were Sharnee Zoll (Marlboro, N.J.), Britnee Millner (Martinsville, Va.), Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.), Jayna Hartig (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), and Aisha Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria). Virginia opened the game with a 9-0 run with six points in the paint from Mohammed. UVa reached a 20-point lead on a three by senior Tara McKnight (Bluffton, S.C.) to close out the first quarter. The `Hoos continued to build upon their lead, utilizing a 16-5 run to close out the second quarter. UVa entered the locker room with a 33-point lead at halftime, 59-26.
All 10 Cavaliers received substantial playing time. UVa held Tara de Telde to just 10 points in the fourth quarter, all scored by Exposito, for the 45-point victory.
For the second straight night, Lyndra Littles (Washington, D.C.) led UVa in scoring with 23 points. Mohammed racked up her first double-double as a Cavalier, tallying 22 points and a team-best 12 rebounds. Wright finished with 21 points and five steals. Sophomore Abby Robertson (Springfield, Va.) blocked three shots.
Tara was led by Exposito’s 19 points. Franco was the only other player in double figures with 13 points, including three treys.
Overall, UVa grabbed 51 rebounds. The Cavaliers shot 12-of-19 from the free throw line, while Tara was 13-of-19.
In its third and final exhibition game Virginia visits the University of Tenerife on Wednesday, May 30 at Noon.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION TOUR
GAME #2
1 2 3 4 - FinalVirginia (2-0) 32 27 19 21 - 99Tara de Telde 12 14 18 10 - 54
Virginia Stats: PT RB A ST BLSharnee Zoll, G 2 1 7 2 0Britnee Millner, G 3 3 0 1 0Monica Wright, G 21 8 4 5 1Jayna Hartig, F 9 7 0 1 0Aisha Mohammed, C 20 12 0 2 0Lyndra Littles 23 9 1 3 1Lauren Carson 0 0 0 3 0Paulisha Kellum 7 6 4 2 0Tara McKnight 6 0 0 2 0Abby Robertson 8 5 0 2 3Team totals 99 51 16 23 5
POST GAME QUOTES
Debbie Ryan, Virginia head coach
On tonight’s win:
“I thought we came out tonight and played much better defense. We weren’t as sluggish as we were yesterday. I think a lot of our players felt better today in terms of their health. We had a little more pop in our step. I felt like I got to play a lot of people a lot of minutes. It helps to be able to put the whole team in and give them a decent amount of minutes, and everyone feels like they contribute. Obviously we’re really working to be a better defensive team. That’s our focus. Tomorrow we’ll see just how far we’ve come on this trip.”
On Monica Wright:
“She’s really struggled with some of the food over here. I think today she felt a little better although she’s not 100 percent. She was feeling a whole lot better than she was yesterday. Yesterday she was just very ill. It really took a little bit out of our line-up, but she really played well today. She gave us some good boards and stole the ball a lot. Tomorrow will be a better test for us.”
On Jayna Hartig’s moves:
“Jayna did some nice things for us. She’s always done that in practice, and this is really the first time she’s used it in a game.”
On Aisha Mohammed:
“Aisha started today. I didn’t want her knee to get stiff after warm-ups, so we started her today and gave her a chance to get on the boards early. She’s so dangerous; she’s so quick around the basket. If you don’t box her out, she’s going to have a million offensive rebounds. She did a great job today, and I’m glad she had a double-double.”
On the slippery floor:
“It’s hard when it’s slippery like this, but we played over at the (S.E.E.D.S.) academy, and it was like this. We just got wet towels and constantly tried to get the dust off of our feet. These floors are kind of worn, and they don’t get refinished like they do in the United States. But we were fine; it wasn’t that big a deal.”
Monica Wright
On her health:
“I’m feeling a little bit better. I took some pain reliever, so I’m not paying attention to that.”
“It’s not back to normal, because we’re not in America. But just being on the court with everybody is always reassuring.”
On the playing floor:
“It was slippery, and there were a couple of dead spots on the floor. It was hard to adjust, but as long as we were able to move, we were good, especially on defense.”
Aisha Mohammed
On her first double-double:
“It feels good, but at the same time, this is not my real game. I’m just trying to go, because I’m sore right now. So I’m not really playing my game; I’m just playing not to let my teammates down, so I have to pick it up no matter how.”