Virginia Drops ACC Opener at No. 2 NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (3-8, 0-1 ACC) suffered an 82-55 loss at No. 2 NC State (11-2, 2-0 ACC) on Sunday (Dec. 19) in its first Atlantic Coast Conference competition of the season.

NC State used a 14-2 run to take control of the game in the second quarter. The Wolfpack led 42-31 at halftime, with the Cavaliers cutting the deficit to eight points to start the second half. The Wolfpack gradually built up to a 27-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

Grad student guard Amandine Toi led the Cavaliers with 20 points, her third 20-point game of the season. Junior point guard Taylor Valladay scored 11 points. Sophomore guard Kaydan Lawson scored 10 points with a team-high six rebounds.

Elissa Cunane led the Wolfpack with 17 points and six rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Wolfpack took an early 8-2 lead, but the Cavaliers battled back, using Toi’s hot shooting coupled with a layup from Valladay that pulled UVA to within one, 10-9, with 5:09 remaining. The Wolfpack pushed out to a 17-9 lead until a second three-pointer from Toi ended the run with 1:45 remaining. Sophomore guard Kaydan Lawson hit a three-pointer with less than seven seconds remaining to make it 19-15 headed into the second quarter.

The Wolfpack missed their first attempt of the second quarter but then converted five straight to build up a 14-2 run and take a 35-19 lead. A second three from Lawson, following an offensive rebound on a missed UVA second free throw after a make, gave the Cavaliers four points in a matter of seconds to reignite the offense. Junior forward Camryn Taylor scored her first points of the game when she nailed a three-pointer with 3:11 remaining in the half to narrow the gap to 37-26. An and-one from Valladay with 1:14 remaining cut the deficit to single digits, but the Wolfpack scored a layup to go into the break leading 42-31.

Junior guard Carole Miller opened the second half with a three-pointer, making it an eight-point game, 42-34, but the Cavaliers could not build up momentum off the bucket, with the Wolfpack and Cavaliers trading points through the opening minutes. NC State went on an 8-0 run midway through the period to build a 56-18 advantage. The Wolfpack held the same 18-lead at the end of the period, taking their first 20-point lead by scoring five-straight points to start the fourth. The Wolfpack built up their then largest lead of the game, 69-45, on a three-pointer with 7:15 remaining. Toi immediately answered on the opposite end, draining her fourth of the contest. A three-pointer from State with two minutes left that would prove to be the last bucket of the game for either team made it a 27-point game.

FROM HEAD COACH TINA THOMPSON

“NC State made shots. They executed while we went through a low and while we were having difficulty not just stopping them but scoring on our own. Little by little they were just chipping away at it, making shots here and there. And even though we were getting stops and making runs, we kept allowing them to kind of be a little comfortable and do some of the things that they do well, and that’s your game.”

On the three-point shooting:

“Anytime our kids have the option to see the ball go in, it’s great for confidence. In the ACC, in order to win games, playing defense is not enough. You have to be able to score the ball too and then there’s no off night in the ACC. So making shots is definitely a good thing for us.”

On the play of Amandine Toi:

“She had open shots and she knocked them down. Some of them not so open. But she came to play tonight. And that was really good for us.”

NOTES

• Virginia shot 38.9 percent (21-of-54) while NC State shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58)
• NC State held a 38-28 edge in rebounding
• Amandine Toi has led the team in scoring in seven of the last eight games
• Toi started the game going 4-of-4 from the floor scoring 10 points in the first 12:33 of the game
• Toi’s 20-point game was her third of the year and the fifth overall for a Cavalier this season
• UVA went 5-of-9 (60.0 percent) from three-point range in the first half
• Virginia was 9-of-20 (45.0 percent) overall from long range. The nine three-pointers is a season high
• Five different UVA players hit three-pointers in the game, led by four from Toi (4-of-8)
• NC State went 7-of-20 from three (35.0 percent)
• The Cavaliers were coming off an 11-day break for final exams
• This was the ACC opener for the Cavaliers but not for NC State. The Wolfpack won 89-54 at Pitt on Dec. 10

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers have one more game before the holiday break, playing at Texas Southern on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 1 p.m. ET (noon local time)
• Virginia returns home and returns to conference play on Thursday, Dec. 30 when it hosts Notre Dame at John Paul Jones Arena. That game tips at 7 p.m.