Virginia Falls 69-57 at No. 20 UCLA
LOS ANGELES – The Virginia women’s basketball team (0-4) suffered a 69-57 loss at No. 20 UCLA (3-0) on Sunday (Nov. 20) at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Cavaliers were down one point with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter, but a flurry of three-pointers from the Bruins early in the fourth quarter helped the home team pull away.
Junior guard Carole Miller led the Cavaliers with 14 points, one of four UVA players in double figures. Junior forward Camryn Taylor scored 12 points. Junior point guard Taylor Valladay and grad student guard Amandine Toi also finished with 10 points apiece. Natalie Chou led the Bruins with 20 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Valladay opened the game by scoring off the opening tip four seconds into the contest, but the Bruins answered with eight points in a 1:14 span to take an early 8-2 lead. A three-pointer in the final 18 seconds of the period gave the home team an 18-11 advantage.
Toi scored five points early in the second quarter, including hitting a three-pointer, to swing the momentum in UVA’s direction. A steal by junior forward Camryn Taylor that led to a fastbreak layup from sophomore guard Aaliyah Pitts pulled UVA to within two, 20-18, with 6:50 remaining in the half. A fastbreak layup from Valladay tied the game at 22 with just under five minutes remaining. Valladay gave UVA its first lead, 26-24, with 2:41 left in the quarter as she drove to the basket and converted a layup. Back-to-back three-pointers from the Bruins put UCLA ahead 32-26 in the final minute, but Toi closed out the period with a three pointer to cut the deficit to 32-29 at the break.
The Cavaliers pulled to within a point three times in the third quarter, the last on a corner three from Miller to make it 41-40 with two minutes remaining in the period, but the Bruins scored the final four points of the period to push ahead 45-40. UCLA opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back threes in the first 1:08 to build up a 51-40 advantage. A three pointer from Jaelynn Penn with seven minutes left in the game, the Bruins fourth of the period, made it a 15-point advantage, 59-44. Taylor ended a 10-0 UCLA run with an and-one with 5:15 remaining. A jumper from Miller with 1:11 remaining cut the deficit to 65-55, but the Cavaliers couldn’t sustain a longer rally.
FROM HEAD COACH TINA THOMPSON
“It’s our discipline. We have to be disciplined. We have to stick to our schemes and we have to execute. There are no excuses. I’m not gonna make any. As hard as we are working, we have to work smarter. To win games like this, or just in general, it takes a level of toughness, and we’re still kind of searching for that and figuring it out. It’s in our group. We just have to dig deep enough that we reach it.”
NOTES
- Virginia shot 40.4 percent (21-of-52). UCLA shot 51.0 percent (25-of-49)
- UCLA held a 30-27 edge in rebounds
- The Bruins were 10-of-10 from the free throw line; Virginia made 11-of-15 (73.3 percent)
- UCLA outscored the Cavaliers 24-17 in the fourth quarter
- Virginia was 4-of-17 from three-point range while the Bruins were 9-of-17
- Amandine Toi and Taylor Valladay each scored eight points in the second quarter, combining for 16 of UVA’s 18 points. They scored all of their points in the first half
- This was Camryn Taylor’s third double-digit scoring performance in four games
- UCLA’s largest lead was 19 points in the fourth quarter. UVA whittled it down to 10 in the final 1:11of the game
- Due to injuries, the Bruins only had seven scholarship players available for the game
ON THE HORIZON
- The Cavaliers’ West Coast road trip concludes on Tuesday, Nov. 23 when UVA plays at Fullerton (2-2) at 9 p.m. ET
- The Cavalier Classic tournament returns to John Paul Jones Arena with games on Friday, Nov. 26 and Sunday, Nov. 28. UVA will face Rhode Island and Richmond with Long Beach State also taking on those same two opponents