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Virginia Falls 63-52 at NC State
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Box Score Jan. 27, 2016
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Virginia women’s basketball team (13-9, 3-5 ACC) fell 63-52 to NC State (14-6, 5-2 ACC) on Wednesday (Jan. 27) at Broughton High School in Raleigh, N.C.
After trailing by 14 points in the third quarter, the Cavaliers rallied in the fourth quarter, starting the period on an 8-0 run and pulling to within three, 50-47, with five minutes remaining, but a late 9-0 run by the Wolfpack put an end to UVA’s comeback bid.
Sophomore Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) scored 14 points with four assists and three rebounds. Sophomore Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) scored 10 points with three rebounds. Junior Sydney Umeri (Acworth, Ga.) led the defensive effort with eight rebounds while scoring four points.
NC State’s Dominique Wilson scored 24 points, going 10-of-22 from the field, with five assists and three steals.
“We are definitely struggling to score,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “We are scoring in spurts and we just don’t have a flow and rhythm. We are relying on one or two people and that is tough. I thought we did a better job on the boards and the kids really fought tonight, but we didn’t get stops down the stretch. We put them on the free throw line in the last four minutes, but we got cold and couldn’t score a basket on our end.”
Virginia shot 37.7 percent (20-of-53) while NC State went 23-of-55 (41.8 percent). The Wolfpack held a 34-31 edge in rebounding. The Cavaliers committed 17 turnovers while NC State had 11.
A three-pointer from redshirt sophomore J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) gave Virginia an 11-10 lead in the first quarter, but the Wolfpack made three layups in the final 1:05 to hold a 16-11 lead at the start of the second period.
The Cavaliers started the second with back-to-back threes from Brown and Venson to take a 17-16 lead, but NC State mounted a 14-2 run to take a 30-19 lead with 4:45 remaining in the half. Neither team made another basket in the remainder of the half, but Venson hit a pair of free throws to make it 30-21 at halftime.
Virginia ended a 9:13 field goal drought that spanned the second and third quarter with a pull-up jumper from junior Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) off an offensive rebound with 7:52 remaining in the third quarter. Six points from Moses helped the Cavaliers keep pace with the Wolfpack, heading into the fourth quarter trailing 48-37.
Venson hit a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter, narrowing the gap to eight, 48-40. Mason scored on a fastbreak after a steal to take another two points off the gap. Brown drained a three from the corner to make it a three-point game, 48-45, with 6:42 remaining. After trading baskets, NC State gained momentum, building its lead back up by scoring six unanswered points to lead 58-49 with 1:29 remaining. The Wolfpack added three free throws to make it a 9-0 run, which Mason halted with a three from the top of the arc with 23 seconds left in the game, but the Cavaliers could not cut further into the deficit.
Virginia has this coming weekend off before traveling back to North Carolina to take on Duke on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in Durham. The Cavaliers will be back at home at John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday, Feb. 7, hosting Virginia Tech at 2 p.m.
Single-game ticket prices for all home games are $10 for Reserved seating, $8 for adult General Admission and $6 for youth (18 & under), senior (60 & over) and UVA faculty/staff General Admission. Fans may purchase home game tickets through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office online at VirginiaSports.com, by phone and in person. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is located in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Telephone purchases can be made by calling 1-800-542-UVA1 (8821) or locally at 434-924-UVA1 (8821).