Virginia Falls 69-56 Against American

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (3-7, 0-0 ACC) suffered a 69-56 loss against American (6-2, 0-0 Patriot) on Tuesday (Dec. 7) at John Paul Jones Arena 

The Eagles were hot from long range, making 10 three-pointers, to pick up the road win.

Grad student guard Amandine Toi lead the Cavaliers with 12 points while also dishing five assists. Junior forward Camryn Taylor scored 11 points. Junior point guard Taylor Valladay led the defensive efforts with a team-high eight rebounds while scoring six points with five assists.

Riley DeRubbo was one of four American players to finish the game in double figures, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long range. Emily Fisher also scored 12 points, going 2-fo-3 from three.

HOW IT HAPPENED

American hit a pair of three-pointers to open the game with a 6-2 lead. The Cavaliers battled back to tie and take the lead on a pair of free throws from junior guard Carole Miller with 2:29 remaining in the quarter, but another three-pointer from the Eagles put the visitors back in the lead. The Eagles hit a fourth three-pointer with a minute left in the period and closed out the quarter with an and-one to build a 17-11 lead. They started the second with a layup to take a 19-11 lead. After a steal and fastbreak layup from  Toi narrowed the gap to five, 24-19, with 3:19 remaining, American scored six straight to build up a double-digit advantage. A putback layup that turned into an and-one from sophomore guard Aaliyah Pitts in the final five seconds of the quarter cut the halftime deficit to 29-22.

Taylor started the second half by making a layup 19 seconds into the period. A putback from junior forward London Clarkson made it a 33-29 game while another from grad student center Eleah Parker got the Cavaliers to within two, 34-32, but the Eagles built back up a six-point advantage, 40-34, with 4:22 remaining. American went on an 11-0 run to build up a 51-36 lead. Miller ended Virginia’s scoring drought by making a layup with 22 seconds left in the quarter.

American held a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to single digits after a layup from Lawson followed by an and-one from Taylor and another Taylor layup that made it 61-53 with 2:40 remaining. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to eight, 64-56, with 26 seconds remaining, but American went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch and the Cavaliers could not convert on the offensive end.

FROM HEAD COACH TINA THOMPSON

“This was a tough one for us tonight. Especially coming off of two tough wins where we kind of grinded it out. We lacked discipline in this game tonight and American was just a lot more disciplined than we were. We have to have resistance and be able to kind of do the same things over and over again consistently, especially when you know a team is so specific about what it is that they do and what it is that they’re looking for offensively. We show up every night and we work hard, but sometimes it’s the intelligence that we’re lacking in our work and that’s just not on the shoulders of our kids, but us as well. We have to continue to work and be intentional about what it is that we’re doing when we’re out there on the floor and be consistent in that.”

NOTES

• Virginia shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60); American shot 48.9 percent (22-of-45)
• American went 10-of-17 from three-point range (58.8 percent); Virginia was 1-of-11 from three point range (9.1 percent)
• Virginia held a 32-31 edge in rebounding
• American was 15-of-19 from the free throw line while UVA went 9-of-16
• The Cavaliers outscored the Eagles 34-22 in the paint
• UVA scored 25 points off turnovers

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers will take an 11-day break for final exams after the American game, returning to action on Sunday, Dec. 19 with their ACC opener at NC State