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CHARLOTTESVILLE No. 19 Virginia used a balanced scoring attack to get past East Carolina, 80-67, Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. Monica Wright led the Cavaliers with 23 points and hauled down a career-high 13 rebounds.
Wright scored at least 20 points for the sixth time this season, and has now reached the 20-point plateau in four-straight games. The ACC’s leading scorer, she tallied her second double-double of the year (seventh of her career).
Aisha Mohammed just missed her fifth double-double of the year with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Ariana Moorer tied a career-high with 19 points and added five rebounds.
Holding a slim one-point lead with 7:23 left in the first half, Virginia (7-2) stepped up its offensive efforts and went on a 13-1 run over the next four minutes to take a 43-30 lead on a baseline jumper by Wright with 3:43 left.
After an ECU timeout, the Pirates (4-3) scored five unanswered points to cut the lead to eight, 43-35, with 1:45 left. Virginia countered, however, and scored the final three points of the period to take a 46-35 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, East Carolina was never able to cut the deficit to single digits and the Cavaliers won by a final score of 80-67.
Also having solid outings for UVa were Chelsea Shine (six points, four rebounds), Whitny Edwards (five points, four rebounds) and Enong Stovall (three steals).
Virginia evened the all-time series with ECU, 2-2, and won its second-straight contest.
Up next for UVa is two home games on Dec. 18 (vs. Monmouth, 7 p.m.) and Dec. 21 (vs. Mount St. Mary’s, 1 p.m.). The Marriott Cavalier Classic, featuring the Cavaliers, Rider, UMBC and Louisiana Tech, will be held at JPJA Dec. 28-29.