Virginia Opens San Juan Shootout with Upset Win Over No. 17 Vanderbilt

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Nov. 23, 2012

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GUAYNAMO, P.R. – The Virginia women’s basketball team opened the San Juan Shootout tournament in Puerto Rico with a 73-66 victory over No. 17 Vanderbilt.

The game got off to a slow start with the two teams combining to score seven points in the first four minutes. The Cavaliers extended their early 5-2 lead with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a three-pointer by Faith Randolph (Fr., Derwood, Md.). UVa began pounding the ball inside with Jazmin Pitts (Jr., Mosley, Va.) scoring Virginia’s next nine points. Vanderbilt, on the other end, found its offensive stroke, hitting four three-pointers to cut a ten-point deficit to one, 23-22, with seven minutes left in the first half.

Virginia extended the lead back to five, 27-22, with Sarah Imovbioh (So., Abuja, Nigeria) going straight up to the hoop after getting a rebound after her initial shot was blocked. Imovbioh got another quick layup to make it a 29-22 lead, putting her into double digits in scoring with just under five minutes left in the first half.

Another layup by Pitts extended the lead back to double digits, 33-22, with three minutes left in the half. After Vanderbilt again narrowed the gap to nine, Ataira Franklin (Jr., Bowie, Md.) cleanly picked off a Vanderbilt pass attempt through the lane, getting the ball out ahead to China Crosby (Sr., New York, N.Y.) who scored on the fast break to give Virginia a 35-24 advantage with 1:20 left in the half.The Cavaliers went into the break leading the Commodores, 37-26.

Virginia shot 68.2 percent from the field in the first half, going 15-for-22. After making the four early three-pointers, Vanderbilt’s shooting cooled, finishing the first half going 4-for-18 from three-point range.

Coming out of the break, however, Vanderbilt made its first four three-point attempts. Virginia continued scoring in the paint with the Cavaliers holding a 47-38 advantage with 14 minutes left in the game.

The Commodores took advantage of Virginia missed baskets to score three straight transition buckets, narrowing the gap to three, 47-44, with 12:38 remaining. Another three by Randolph ended the run, giving UVa a 50-44 edge.

The Cavaliers defense forced three Vanderbilt turnovers, with the offense taking advantage. A pull-up free throw line jumper by Franklin extended the lead back out to 11, 62-51, with 6:24 remaining. Vanderbilt’s Christina Foggie hit her eighth three-pointer of the game to end the UVa run and to bring the game back to a single-digit margin, 62-54.

Telia McCall (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) made four straight free throws to make it 71-63. Foggie put up another three-point attempt, with the shot off the mark. Vanderbilt got the rebound, getting a foul called against Virgina in the process. After making the first free throw, the Commodores missed the second. With both teams fighting for the rebound, a key box out by Franklin freed up McCall to grab the ball. Virginia couldn’t convert on the other end, turning the ball over. Vanderbilt made a jumper to make it a 71-66 game with 1:11 remaining.

Vanderbilt put on the press, trying to trap Virginia in the backcourt. The Cavaliers broke through with Wolfe driving the hoop, drawing a foul. She made both free throws to make it 73-66 with 1:02 remaining.

The Commodores got the ball into the hands of their hot-three-point shooter, Foggie. Wolfe blocked her attempt with the ball ending up in a scrum of players on the floor. Virginia was awarded the ball with 37.7 remaining.

UVa again had to break the press. Crosby got the ball over the timeline. The team passed the ball around, running down the clock. After Crosby took a jumper as the shot clock was about to expire, Vanderbilt came up with the rebound, but with 7.9 seconds left on the clock, the team dribbled out the game on the other end with the Cavaliers coming away with the upset victory.

“I am really proud of the girls,” said head coach Joanne Boyle. “We came down here to have some fun, but after awhile, it turns into a business trip. I am really proud of how they prepared and approached this game. We didn’t play a perfect game, but we played forty minutes of grind-out basketball. I thought we did a great job of doing the little things to get the `W’.”

Pitts scored a career-high 20 points, eclipsing her previous best mark of 17 that she scored her freshman year against North Carolina A&T.

“I was just having fun through the whole entire game,” Pitts said. “The team was having fun when I first got into the game and it sort of relaxed me. We just had to read the defense. They were switching a lot. We had to see where they were and once we got the ball, stay composed, look, and score the basket.”

Imovbioh scored 15 points with six rebounds. Crosby scored 13 points with seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Randolph had eight points, making all three of her shot attempts, with four assists.

With the win, Virginia improves to 4-0 on the year, the second straight season that the team has opened with four consecutive wins. Vanderbilt falls to 3-2.

The Cavaliers close out the tournament on Saturday, Nov. 24, taking on Syracuse at 3:30 p.m. AT (2:30 p.m. ET). Live stats will not be available for the game, but live streaming audio will be available through VirginiaSports.com and game updates will also be available on Twitter.