Cavaliers Fall to California in Second Round of Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia’s run in the Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament came to an end on Thursday night (March 6). The No. 10 seeded Cavaliers (17-15) fell to No. 7 seed California (25-7) 75-58 in a second-round meeting at First Horizon Coliseum.  

Kymora Johnson led the Cavaliers with 18 points while pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out two assists. Paris Clark chipped in 15 points to the Cavalier effort while recording four assists and three rebounds. Breona Hurd (10 pts) rounded out a trio of Cavaliers in double figures.  

Virginia was outrebounded 28-46 on the glass and shot 33-percent (21-63) from the floor. Cal shot the ball at a 46-percent (28-61) clip and outscored Virginia 34-26 in the paint.  

Latasha Lattimore left the game with an injury in the second quarter and did not return. 

How It Happened
Cal scored the first nine points of the game and maintained at least a seven-point advantage for the remainder of the quarter to keep UVA at arm’s length. Hurd led the team with seven early points as the Cavaliers trailed 13-28 going into the second quarter.  

Virginia trailed by as many as 20 points in the second quarter [21-41]. The Cavaliers shot 35-percent (11-31) in the first half while California went 50-percent (17-34) from the floor. Virginia was outrebounded 10-26 in the opening half and entered the second trailing 41-25. 

The Golden Bear lead ballooned to 26 points [51-25] in the third quarter as California caught fire from long range. Cal went 5-for-8 from distance led by Lulu Twidale who scored 11 points in the quarter while knocking down a perfect 4-for-4 three-pointers. Virginia trailed 39-62 going into the fourth.  

The Cavaliers won the fourth quarter outscoring Cal 19-13 and cut the lead to as few as 13 points [59-69]. However, Cal ended the game on a 6-2 run to hand Virginia a 75-58 defeat.  

From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton:
“Credit to Cal. I thought they played a really good game. They hit shots. They were physical on the boards. There was a lot of self-inflicted things I think we could have corrected, and we really didn’t start being urgent and competing until probably the last 15 minutes of the game. By then we were in a pretty big hole. A lot of stuff that we can definitely grow and be better from.”

Game Notes 

• Double figure scorers: Johnson (18), Clark (15), Hurd (10) 

• Virginia went on a 12-3 scoring run in the 3rd quarter and 12-2 run in the 4th  

• California shot 62-percent (5-8) from three-point range in the third quarter, but went 37-percent (9-24) for the game.  

• The Cavaliers committed a season low seven turnovers 

• Virginia was held to under five total 3-pointers for the 5th time this season 

• The Cavaliers were outrebounded 28 to 46 and fall to 3-11 on the season when being outrebounded 

• Virginia’s 28 rebounds mark a season-low 

• UVA was outscored 34-28 in the painted area 

• The Cavaliers recorded a season-low eight assists compared to Cal’s 19  

• Virginia forced Cal into 14 turnovers resulting in 18 Cavalier points 

• The Cavaliers recorded seven steals in the game compared to Cal’s one 

• Paris Clark and Kymora Johnson played all 40 minutes. This is the 10th time for Johnson this season