Buzzer Beater Lifts Wofford Over Virginia, 71-70

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Wofford’s Rachael Rose (21 pts, 10 reb, 9 ast) threw up a floater with one second remaining, which banked off the glass and in, as the Terriers toppled Virginia (7-3), 71-70, at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday afternoon (Dec. 16).

The loss snapped Virginia’s three-game winning streak. The Cavaliers led for 33:24 of game time and out-rebounded Wofford, 45-27. Late-game shooting proved to be critical as Wofford connected on all three of its field goal attempts with under 3:00 play, while the Hoos shot 2-of-9.

Olivia McGhee (14 pts), Paris Clark (14 pts, 5-9 FG, 5 reb) and Camryn Taylor (13 pts, 6-9 FG, 4 reb) led the Cavaliers in scoring.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Five of the Terriers’ 11 made 3-pointers came in the first period, which accounted for all their points in the first stanza. Virginia led 16-9 with under 3:00 remaining in the quarter, but the Terriers knocked down a pair of triples to trim the Cavaliers’ lead to 16-15 by the end of the period. McGhee led all scorers after 10 minutes with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting, including one 3-pointer. Virginia shot 44 percent from the field with the help of point guard Kymora Johnson (7 pts, 9 ast), who tallied five of her nine assists in the first quarter.

After the Terriers tied the game, 23-23, the Cavaliers embarked on a 10-0 run midway through the second. UVA grasped its largest lead of the game [36-25] with 2:04 to go in the first half. Later on, a Wofford 3-pointer with 42 seconds left concluded scoring in the first-half and trimmed the UVA advantage to seven, 37-30. Clark scored nine of her 14 points in the second quarter on 3-of-5 shooting and sunk both attempts at the free throw line. Clark and London Clarkson (7 pts, 9 reb) both played the entire second period.

Coming out of the break, Wofford claimed the first six points to quickly cut the Hoos’ lead to two, 37-35. A 6-0 UVA run with under 2:00 to go in the quarter put the Cavaliers back in the driver seat heading into the fourth at which point UVA led, 52-47. Taylor started the second half and posted seven points and three rebounds in the third quarter.

Upon draining the first two baskets of the fourth, Wofford tied the game [52-52] for the first time since the 6:32 mark of the second quarter. A 7-0 run shortly thereafter by the Terriers put Wofford ahead 59-55 midway through the fourth, which marked their first lead since its first made basket of the game. The fourth quarter saw nine lead changes and four tied scores and neither team led by more than four points throughout. With 30 seconds to play, Virginia trailed 69-68 when Clark stole a Terriers’ inbound pass and dished it to Alexia Smith in transition who finished the layup to put the Hoos ahead 70-69 with 27 seconds left. On the game’s final possession, Rose received a pass with four seconds left on the game clock, and drove right before releasing a contested runner, which banked in to put the Terriers’ up for good. Upon an officials’ review, the game clock displayed 0.4 seconds. The Cavaliers called timeout to automatically advance the ball to half court, but to no avail, as the inbound pass was immediately deflected away, erasing any hope of a UVA shot attempt.

FROM HEAD COACH AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON
“First of all, credit to Wofford. I thought they played a heck of a game. We knew what their game plan was going to be. We knew that they were going to sag off of us and try and force us to shoot and things like that since we’ve been having some shooting woes. Number 12, Rose (Rachael Rose), she had a phenomenal game, almost a triple double, really, really good player. The supporting cast, they stepped up and hit shots. So, hit 11 3s, which that’s really good. So, credit to them. They deserved to win. We didn’t deserve to win. I also want to say I apologize to our fans because the way we played, the lack of passion that we showed, the lack of energy, it’s not the kind of brand of basketball that we want to play, and we will get better.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Olivia McGhee (14 pts) tied her career high in scoring.
• In addition to McGhee, Paris Clark (14 pts, 5-9 FG, 5 reb) and Camryn Taylor (13 pts, 4 reb) also scored in double figures for the Cavaliers.
• Wofford’s Rachael Rose, the Southern Conference Preseason Player of the Year, hit the game-winning shot with under one second to play.
• The Terriers won the inaugural matchup of the series.
• Virginia is now 18-3 against non-conference opponents under head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.

UP NEXT
The Cavaliers return to John Paul Jones Arena to host Fordham (5-6) on Thursday (Dec. 21). Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).