Virginia's Season Ends in a WNIT First-Round Loss at ODU
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Box Score March 19, 2015
Final Stats | Video: Post Game Press Conference
NORFOLK, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team’s season came to an end with a 69-62 loss at Old Dominion (21-12, 11-7 Conference USA) in the first round of the Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament on Thursday (March 19) at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va.
Old Dominion will face the winner of Friday night’s game between Villanova and Maine in the second round.
“Congratulations to ODU,” said head coach Joanne Boyle. “They came out and really understood what it was to fight to stay in the postseason. I am disappointed with how we came out. There is really no excuse. I thought we came out very tentative. We bobbled balls, we turned the ball over and we were late to balls. We were coaching effort a little bit tonight, and that is not what you should be doing at this point in the season. We got down 10, and then we had to fight so hard to get back in.”
Freshman guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) scored 19 points with six assists and four rebounds for the Cavaliers (17-14, 7-9 ACC). Sophomore guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) scored 17 points with six assists.
ODU’s Destinee Young scored 20 points with seven rebounds.
Old Dominion broke open a one-point game in the first half by scoring nine-straight points to lead 31-21 with 3:39 remaining. Venson stopped the run and cut the deficit in half by scoring five points in a 41-second span to make it a 31-26 game with 2:45 remaining in the half. The Lady Monarchs, however, scored the final five points before the break to go into the locker room with a 36-26 advantage.
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half, the Cavaliers chipped away at the lead, pulling to within three, 48-45, on a floater from Venson with 9:03 remaining, but ODU answered on the opposite end. After the Lady Monarchs built the lead back up to seven, Virginia cut it back to a five-point hole five times, but Old Dominion answered each time to push it back to seven. The Cavaliers sent the Lady Monarchs to the free throw line seven times in the final 1:36 with ODU going just 7-of-11 from the stripe, including missing three-straight front-ends of one-and-ones, but Virginia could not generate a late run.
Old Dominion outrebounded Virginia 41-36. ODU went 27-of-61 (44.3 percent) from the field while UVa was 27-of-66 (40.9 percent).
This was Virginia’s fifth time playing in the WNIT and its 30th overall post-season appearance. All four of Virginia’s previous trips to the WNIT, including its last appearance in 2012, ended with a loss in the quarterfinals.