Virginia Falls 64-61 to Georgia
Nov. 16, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (1-2) suffered a 64-61 loss to Georgia (2-0) on Thursday (Nov. 16) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers trailed by 14 points early in the fourth quarter, but cut the deficit down to one, 62-61, with eight seconds remaining. The Cavaliers had a shot to tie the game in the final second, but the attempt clanked off the rim.
Sophomore guards Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) led the Cavaliers in scoring with Toussaint contributing 18 points and Willoughby 17. Caliya Robinson led Georgia with 15 points and nine rebounds.
“This was just a tough game,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “A lot of credit to Georgia. They came in and they just definitely had an attitude and a will in this game. I don’t think we matched that intensity until the fourth quarter and then we had to play catch up the whole game. It was just tough to do at that point.”
Toussaint got things started for the Cavaliers, scoring UVA’s first five points of the game. The two teams battled through the first quarter, with six lead changes in the period. Virginia finished the quarter with a 19-16 lead. Toussaint hit a layup to start the second quarter, giving UVA a five-point lead, but Georgia took advantage of five Virginia turnovers in a 2:51 span midway through the period to mount an 8-0 run. Virginia, which started the game making seven of its first 14 field goal attempts, finished the half making just one of its final seven attempts, but trailed by just one point, 29-28, at halftime.
Both teams started slowly in the second half with UGA scoring the first bucket two minutes into the half. The Lady Bulldogs started the period on a 11-2 run, building up a 40-30 advantage. Back-to-back layups from sophomore center Felicia Aiyeotan (Lagos, Nigeria) broke the Georgia streak, making it a 40-34 deficit. Georgia scored the final six points of the period to take a 46-34 advantage into the final period.
After trailing by 14 at early in the fourth quarter, Toussaint got the deficit back to single digits, 50-41, by hitting a three with 7:18 remaining. A three-pointer from senior guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) followed by a steal from Willoughby that set up a Toussaint layup made it a four-point deficit, 56-52, with 4:38 remaining.
Georgia led 60-58 with 90 seconds remaining in the game. The two teams traded misses and rebounds until Gabby Connally hit a pair of free throws to increase the UGA lead to four with nine seconds remaining. Huland El hit a three-pointer with just over a second ticking off the clock to make it a one-point game, 62-61. After an immediate Virginia foul, Que Morrison converted two free throws to make it 64-61. Senior J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) had a three-point shot right at the buzzer, but it went off the rim.
The Lady Bulldogs did not make a field goal in the final 4:19 of the game and went 1-of-8 shooting down the stretch. Virginia went 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers finished the game shooting 40.4 percent (21-of-52) but were 13-of-20 (65.0 percent) from the free throw line. Georgia shot 38.2 percent (26-of-68) from the field and was 7-of-8 from the stripe. Georgia held a 40-35 edge in rebounding.
The Cavaliers will travel to play at Dayton on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. before returning home to host Hampton on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7 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).