Virginia Rallies Past Longwood, 74-63

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia women’s basketball team came back from a 16-point first-half deficit to rally for a 74-63 victory over in-state foe Longwood Sunday afternoon (Nov. 21) at John Paul Jones Arena.

With the win, Virginia improves to 3-1 on the season. Longwood’s record dropped to 1-3.

Junior guard Ariana Moorer (Woodbridge, Va.) scored in double-digits for the third-consecutive game and was the Cavaliers’ leading scorer for the second game in a row. She netted 19 points and added eight rebounds and five assists.

“I was happy with the rebounding and I thought that Ariana Moorer had a tremendous game again today,” UVa head coach Debbie Ryan said. “She was a very good leader on the floor.”

Freshman forward Jazmin Pitts (Mosely, Va.) was also in double figures for UVa, scoring 12 points and grabbing five boards.

Longwood opened up the game with a 32-16 lead at the 3:04 mark after a lay-up by Emilee Dunton. At that point, the Cavalier offense ignited an 11-2 run to end the stanza and UVa pulled to within 34-27 at halftime.

In that first period, Virginia was 8-for-35 from the field (22.9 percent), while the Lancers shot 13-for-26 from the field (50 percent).

Virginia opened the second half on a 7-0 run and tied the game at 34-34 on a Moorer lay-up with 18:11 left in the game. After trading baskets over the next several minutes, Virginia took the lead for good after Telia McCall (Marietta, Ga.) finished a lay-up on an assist from Whitny Edwards (Charlotte, N.C.) to put the Cavaliers up, 51-50.

Longwood would cut the lead to one two more times in the second half, but a final 15-5 Virginia run over the last six minutes of the game sealed the game for the Cavaliers.

Edwards finished with seven points and four rebounds. Paulisha Kellum (Upper Marlboro, Md.) netted nine points for UVa and McCall chipped in seven points and four rebounds.

Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) tied for the team-lead with eight rebounds and also scored five points.

Virginia out-rebounded Longwood, 47-29.

Following Sunday’s game, the Cavaliers embark on a three-game road trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands. At the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, UVa faces No. 17 Iowa State (Nov. 25), No. 10 West Virginia (Nov. 26) and No. 25 TCU (Nov. 27).

Virginia women’s basketball fans will be able to watch online webcasts of the Paradise Jam for a one-time fee of $4.99. The link to sign up is: http://b2tv.com/partner_members.asp?id=362.