Story Links
BLACKSBURG, Va. The 14th-ranked Virginia women’s basketball team, led by 28 points from senior Lyndra Littles, defeated Virginia Tech on the road Wednesday night, 75-69. Monica Wright added 23 points for the Cavaliers, who improved to 15-3 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Littles finished 8-for-16 from the field and had seven rebounds to go with her 28 points. Wright, meanwhile, contributed three steals and seven rebounds in addition to her 23 points.
Aisha Mohammed added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers.
In the first half, the teams battled back and forth and Virginia Tech (8-10, 0-5 ACC) tied the game at 18-18 on a 3-pointer by Lindsay Biggs at the 10:30 mark. On Virginia’s next possession, Wright broke the tie with a 3-pointer of her own with 9:50 remaining.
UVa extended its lead to as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Hokies came back to cut the lead to six points, 35-29, on a layup by Nikki Davis with 1:25 left. Littles connected on a 3-pointer on UVa’s last possession of the half to give the Cavaliers a 38-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, Virginia Tech erased the deficit at the 9:43 mark on a 3-pointer by Lindsay Biggs that tied the score at 54-54. From there, the Hokies used a 9-2 run to take a 63-56 lead with 6:34 left on another 3-pointer by Biggs.
With the score tied at 69-69 in the last two minutes of the game, the Cavaliers took the lead on a fastbreak layup by Wright with 1:04 left. On the ensuing Hokie possession, Elizabeth Basham missed a 3-point attempt and UVa got the defensive rebound. Wright was fouled on the other end and missed both free throw attempts, however Mohammed came up with the offensive rebound. With possession of the ball and 31.5 seconds on the clock, Virginia got the ball inbounds to Littles, who was fouled on a jumpshot in the lane.
Littles converted both free throws to give Virginia a 73-69 lead. Virginia Tech did not score on its end of the floor and Littles hit two more free throws to give Virginia the 75-69 victory.
ACC play continues when Virginia hosts Florida State on Friday, Jan. 23, in a televised contest. Tip-off from John Paul Jones is 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network.