Virginia Falls 74-63 to Duquesne in Cavalier Classic Finale
Nov. 26, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (3-4) fell 74-63 to Duquesne (5-2) in the final game of the Cavalier Classic Tournament, presented by DoubleTree by Hilton University Area, on Sunday (Nov. 26) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
Virginia led by eight points in the first half and was ahead at halftime, 32-29, but Duquesne took over in the second half, pushing out to a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to four points, 67-63, in the final 40 seconds of the game, but the Dukes made seven free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.
Virginia shot 44.8 percent in the first half but went 10-of-34 (29.4 percent) after the break. Duquesne shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) in the second half.
Senior guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) scored a season-high 17 points, going 4-of-9 from three-point range, and was named to the all-tournament team. Senior guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C) scored 15 points, her first double-digit scoring game of the season.
Duquesne’s Chassidy Omogrosso scored 25 points, going 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-10 from the line, to earn tournament MVP honors. Julijana Vojinovic scored 22 points and was also named to the all-tournament team.
“Congratulations to Duquesne,” said Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle. “I am really just disappointed. I thought we played a really good first half, but we have these lulls in the third quarter recently. We have to correct that in order to be the team we want to be and that has to start in practice tomorrow.”
The Cavaliers used three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Brown and sophomore guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) to edge out to a 13-12 lead midway through the first period. UVA took advantage of a 1-of-10 shooting spell by the Dukes to build the lead up to 19-14, but Chassidy Omogrosso hit a three pointer in the final seconds of the quarter to cut the deficit to 19-17.
Huland El hit a three to start the second period. A three-pointer from Brown with three minutes left in the half made it a 29-22 lead. The Dukes, despite shooting 28.6 percent in the first half and 23.5 percent in the second quarter, still managed to chip away at the deficit, with a floater from Kadri-Ann Lass with three seconds remaining in the half to make it a 32-29 game at the break. The Cavaliers were 5-of-11 from three-point range in the first half.
The Dukes heated up from beyond the arc in the second half, going 3-of-4 from long range to start the third quarter for a 9-2 run that gave Duquesne a 38-34 advantage. The Dukes scored six points in a span of 1:26 to push their lead out to 44-36 midway through the period and took a 49-43 lead into the fourth quarter.
Duquesne pushed its lead out to double figures, 56-44, on a three-pointer from Julijana Vojinovic with 6:40 remaining as Virginia missed its first six shot attempts of the quarter. Huland El hit a three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 67-60. Huland El drained another three nine seconds later, but the Dukes converted their free throws on the opposite end to push it back out to 69-63. Duquesne went 14-of-16 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
Along with Huland El and Omogrosso, senior forward Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.), NC A&T’s Alexus Lessears and Harvard’s Katie Benzan also earned all-tournament honors.
Virginia will take on No. 15 Maryland in this year’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.
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).