Virginia Falls 63-52 at No. 16 Miami
Feb. 09, 2017
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-9, 4-7 ACC) fell 63-52 at No. 16 Miami (18-6, 7-5 ACC) on Thursday (Feb. 9) at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
Miami opened the game on a 12-2 run, including scoring the first eight points of the game, and led 26-18 at the half. The Cavaliers scored eight-straight points in the third quarter to pull within five, 35-30, but Miami finished the period on a 6-1 run and built up a 54-39 advantage with two minutes remaining. A pair of three-pointers from junior guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) helped cut the deficit to single-digits, 57-49, with 56 seconds remaining, but Miami converted four free throws in the final 13 second to close out the game.
“The last four minutes of this game seemed like they lasted a really long time, but I thought we did a really good job of executing and keeping ourselves in the game,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “We put ourselves in a hole early and couldn’t find a way to score for a while. If you don’t get to set your defense against Miami, you are going to get in a track meet and we did. Miami is really physical and we did not match that the entire evening, we did in spurts but not the whole game. When we got stagnant and weren’t scoring, then we were trying to just catch and attack the rim, so we never shifted the defense. We were going north-to-south after going side-to-side and honestly that was the big difference.”
Junior forward Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) had her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Brown scored a team-high 15 points, including going 4-of-9 from three-point range.
Jessica Thomas and Adrienne Motley each scored 15 points for Miami. Keyona Hayes had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Virginia shot 34.4 percent (22-of-64) while Miami went 25-of-58 (43.1 percent). The Hurricanes held a 41-39 edge in rebounds. Virginia committed 23 turnovers with Miami scoring 23 points off those opportunities.
After trailing 8-0, Moses scored UVA’s first bucket four minutes into the game. A pair of threes from Brown pulled the Cavaliers to within four, 16-12, but Miami’s Adrienne Motley scored five points in the final 24 seconds of the quarter to give the Hurricanes a 21-12 lead.
The Cavaliers and Canes combined to only make five field goals in the second quarter. UVA held Miami scoreless in the first four minutes of the second quarter with baskets from freshman guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) and senior guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) narrowing the gap to 21-16, but the Cavaliers went into a five-and-a-half minute scoring drought, with Miami edging ahead 26-16. Moses ended the drought, hitting a jumper with 1:42 remaining in the half. UVA went into the locker room trailing 26-18.
Moses started the second half with a jumper 15 seconds into the period, but back-to-back layups from Miami’s Erykah Devenport put the Hurricanes back up by double figures, 30-20, with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter. Mason and freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) combined to score eight points for the Cavaliers in a two minute span midway through the period, narrowing the gap to 35-30. Miami outscored the Cavaliers 6-1 in the final 2:14 to end the third quarter with a 41-31 lead.
The Cavaliers started the fourth quarter going 2-of-12 while Miami struggled at the free throw line, missing its first five attempts of the period. The Hurricanes built up a 52-37 advantage but three-pointers from Brown cut the deficit to 57-49 with 53 seconds remaining. Moses answered a pair of Miami free throws by making a layup with 32 seconds remaining. Brown narrowed the gap to seven, 59-52, after making one of two free throw attempts with 19 seconds remaining. Miami was called for a charge, giving the ball right back to Virginia, but the Cavaliers turned it back over. Thomas and Shaneese Bailey made the final four free throws to close out the Hurricane’s victory.
Virginia returns to John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday, Feb. 12 to host Wake Forest in a 2 p.m. game, the first of three remaining regular-season home games for the Cavaliers.
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).