Virginia Falls 65-57 at Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (3-16, 0-9 ACC) suffered a 65-57 loss at Boston College (15-7, 6-5 ACC) on Thursday (Feb. 3) at the Conte Forum.

Virginia built up a 12-point lead in the second quarter, but Boston College scored the first 10 points of the second half and built up an eight-point advantage by the end of the third quarter. The Cavaliers pulled to within five points in the fourth, but the Eagles held on for the victory on their home court.

Sophomore guard Kaydan Lawson scored a career-high 14 points. Sophomore guard Mir McLean had 10 rebounds to lead UVA’s defensive efforts.

Cameron Swartz scored 18 points, one of three Eagles to finish the game in double figures.

HOW IT HAPPENED

A three-pointer from Lawson with 4:02 left in the first quarter broke open a slow start to the game, giving UVA a 7-4 advantage. UVA edged out to a 10-6 lead on free throws before a Lawson layup made it 12-6 with 2:13 remaining. Virginia went into the second quarter leading 15-10. Lawson started the period with an and-one to increase the lead to 18-10. Another Lawson layup made it 22-13, but a three-pointer on the opposite end put a temporary end to the Cavaliers’ run. Grad student guard McKenna Dale took a charge on the defensive end and then popped a three-pointer on the offensive end of the court to put UVA ahead 25-16. Another three from Dale gave UVA a 12-point lead with just under two minutes left in the half. A three-pointer from the Eagles with 36.5 seconds left in the second narrowed the gap to 32-25, but grad student center Eleah Parker ended the period with a layup to send the Cavaliers into the break leading 34-25.

The Eagles scored the first 10 points of the second half with a three from Makayla Dickens putting the Eagles ahead 35-34. A Parker layup ended the run with 5:48 remaining in the period. After a tie and three lead changes, the Eagles scored seven points in a minute span to build up a 46-38 lead. Dale drained her third three-pointer to end the run, making it 46-41 with 2:10 remaining in the third. Boston College took a 49-41 lead into the fourth quarter.

A layup from Parker with 8:27 remaining pulled the Cavaliers to within five, 51-46. Junior guard Taylor Valladay pulled up for a jumper from the free throw line to pull to within three, 51-48, with just under eight to play, but BC answered with back-to-back threes in a thirty-second span to pull out to a 57-48 advantage with seven minutes remaining. Valladay knocked down a three with 3:41 remaining to cut the deficit to six, 59-53. Virginia trailed by six points heading into the final 90 seconds of the game, but could not get any closer.

FROM HEAD COACH TINA THOMPSON

“I’m really proud of my team’s effort. Today we came out and we fought really hard. That third quarter was just a really tough one for us. We kind of got away from the things that gave us the lead in the game and had us in control of the game and that was our execution and our discipline. But also defending. We did a really good job of boxing out giving them one shot, and then getting in transition. Not keeping them off of the offensive boards and giving them second chance opportunities was big in that second half, and the game just kind of got away from us.”

NOTES

• Boston College made 28 free throws, going 28-of-39 from the line
• Virginia shot 37.7 percent from the field (23-of-61); BC shot 26.3 percent (15-of-57)
• Virginia held a 45-42 edge in rebounds
• BC went 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from the field in the second quarter while Virginia shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) in the frame.
• Virginia went 3-of-15 (20.0 percent) from the floor in the third quarter
• Virginia’s largest lead was 12 points, 32-20 with 1:55 remaining in the second quarter
• Boston College’s largest lead was nine points, 59-50, with 4:04 remaining in the game
• Kaydan Lawson scored all 14 of her points in the first half
• Lawson’s previous career high was 12 points against James Madison last season
• Mir McLean made the first start of her collegiate career. She had seven of her rebounds in the first half
• McKenna Dale scored nine points, going 3-of-3 from three-point range

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers will be back home on Sunday, Feb. 6 when they take on Clemson (7-13, 1-8 ACC) for UVA’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration. The game tips at 4 p.m. and airs on the ACC Network
• Virginia has also added a home game on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against Syracuse, a game that was originally scheduled to be played in January. The game tips at 6 p.m.