Story Links
Photo Gallery
CHARLOTTESVILLE No. 15 Virginia held off Mount St. Mary’s and earned a 65-55 victory on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. Monica Wright led all scorers with 27 points and Lyndra Littles posted her first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers.
Wright, who has scored at least 20 points in six-straight contests, was a force, connecting on 11 field goals while adding three steals. Littles, back after sitting out fall semester games for academic reasons, put together the 29th double-double of her career in her second game of action in 2008-09.
The Cavaliers remained undefeated at John Paul Jones Arena this year (5-0), won their fourth-straight matchup and improved to 6-0 all-time against the Mountaineers.
Virginia (9-2) fell into an early hole, as Mount St. Mary’s took a 5-0 lead on back-to-back baskets by Hassanah Oliver. The Cavaliers battled back to tie the score at 7-7 on a jumper by Britnee Millner with 15:01 left in the first half.
Mount St. Mary’s continued to knock down shots and took a 13-9 lead at the 10:27 mark on a 3-pointer by Lauren Howell. Virginia got back-to-back baskets from Enong Stovall later in the period and benefited from 18 first-half points from Wright to take a 27-23 lead at halftime.
UVa head coach Debbie Ryan’s second half starting line-up of Millner, Wright, Stovall, Littles and Britny Edwards provided a spark, starting the half on a 4-0 run to take a 31-23 lead with less than a minute elapsed.
Edwards scored her first-career basket at the 17:53 mark, finishing a short jumper to put the Cavaliers ahead, 33-26. From there, Virginia extended its lead to as many as 16 points with 10:26 remaining.
Mount St. Mary’s had a comeback in the last six minutes of the game, cutting the lead to six points with 5:52 left. Out of a timeout and holding a 52-46 lead, Whitny Edwards knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the Cavaliers’ lead. UVa eventually won by a final score of 65-55.
Mount St. Mary’s (5-5) was led by Hassanah Oliver with 14 points and six rebounds, and Mary Dunn with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Up next for Virginia is the Marriott Cavalier Classic on Dec. 28 and 29. The schedule is as follows: Louisiana Tech vs. UMBC (Dec. 28, 2 p.m.); UVa vs. Rider (Dec. 28, 4:30 p.m.); Consolation game (Dec. 29, 4:30 p.m.); Championship game (Dec. 29, 7 p.m.)
For tickets to the Marriott Cavalier Classic, click here or call (800) 542-UVA1.