UMBC Upsets Virginia 61-56

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. —  Breona Hurd scored a career-high 22 points, but UMBC upset Virginia, 61-56, in women’s college basketball action Tuesday night (Nov. 13) at John Paul Jones Arena. UMBC improved to 2-1, while the Cavaliers fell to 2-1.

Heidi Williams and Gabby Scott led UMBC with 14 points each and Carmen Yanez added 11. The Retrievers never trailed in the contest and staved off a late UVA rally to gain the win.

Hurd was 7-for-10 from the field and 8-for-11 from the free throw line in her career-best performance, which included seven rebounds and four blocks. Kymora Johnson finished with four points on 1-for-16 shooting as the Cavaliers shot 19-for-59 (32.2 percent) overall. UVA was 0-for-14 from 3-point range.

Tabitha Amanze added nine points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers, while Gabby White chipped in seven points and six rebounds.

How It Happened

UMBC jumped to an 11-2 lead before Virginia answered with a 9-2 run. The Retrievers drilled a pair of 3-pointers and went 7-for-8 from the free throw line to take a 19-15 first quarter lead. Scott had eight points for UMBC in the quarter, while Hurd led the Cavaliers with six points and Romi Levy added four points.

Tiera Bellamy’s 3-pointer ignited a 14-4 UMBC run to start the second quarter. UVA scored six quick points on a jumper by White and layups from Hurd and White cut the UMBC lead to 33-25. UMBC made four 3-pointers in the quarter en route to a 35-27 halftime lead.

UVA forced three turnovers to ignite a 6-0 run in the third quarter before UMBC took a 46-38 lead on a Scott 3-pointer from the corner. UVA closed the quarter on a 14-8 run as Johnson scored her first points of the game on a pair of free throws and Hurd had six points during the run to lead the Cavaliers.

UVA trailed 50-46 at the start of the fourth quarter but rallied to tie the game at 54-54 on a layup by Romi Levy. After a UMBC free throw by Kennedy Austin, Bellamy converted a reverse layup for a 57-54 lead with 27.8 seconds left in the contest. Hurd netted a pair of free throws, but Williams iced the win for UMBC with four free throws to make the final score 61-56.

From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton

“We didn’t compete today, which was very disappointing, because that’s the one thing I’m very confident that this group does. Credit to UMBC. They came in, they played tough, and they got us out of our rhythm. Their defense was great. They hit big shots. Credit to them.”

Game Notes

• Hurd scored a career-high 22 points (7-for-10 FG)
• Caitlin Weimar grabbed her 1,000th career rebound (15 at UVA)
• The Cavaliers (0-for-14) failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time since a Nov. 16, 2022, win at Loyola Chicago (0-for-10)
• Virginia fell to 4-1 all-time vs. UMBC
• The Cavaliers are 30-8 vs. non-conference opponents under Agugua-Hamilton
• The last Cavalier to hit 1000 career rebounds was Wendy Palmer (1993-1996)
• Romi Levy was honored pregame for scoring her 1,000th career point vs. Morgan State

Up Next:

Virginia hosts Radford in non-conference action on Sunday, Nov. 16 at John Paul Jones Arena. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).