SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The 10th-seeded Virginia women’s basketball team (22-12) fell to third-seeded TCU (32-5) by a score of 79-69 on in the Sacramento 4 Regional Semifinal on Saturday night (March 28) at the Golden 1 Center.
Paris Clark (20 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl) led Virginia in scoring, capping her collegiate career with back-to-back 20-point games in the Round of 32 and the Sweet Sixteen. Kymora Johnson scored 18 points while dishing out eight assists and pulling down four rebounds.
TCU’s Marta Suarez led all players with 33 points along with 10 rebounds. Olivia Miles scored 28 points for the Horned Frogs while pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists. TCU shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 38.9 percent from deep, and outrebounded the Cavaliers 38-27.
How it Happened
Three-point shooting was crucial for the Cavaliers in the opening quarter. Down by a score of 8-2, Virginia highlighted the period with a 16-4 scoring run to surge in front while going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to close out the period with a 21-17 advantage.
TCU’s Suarez led all players with 18 first-half points followed by teammate Miles with 12 of her own. The Horned Frogs shot 58 percent (14-for-27) in the first half and took a 35-33 advantage with just over a minute remaining in the half, but Clark converted on a three-point play to give UVA a 36-35 advantage going into the break.
TCU started the second half on a 17-4 run and outscored the Cavaliers 24-11 in the frame. The Horned Frogs led by as many as 15 points before a Johnson 3-pointer cut the deficit to 59-47 entering the final quarter.
Virginia won the final period 22-20 and pulled within as few as six points late in the fourth.
From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton:
"I thought it was a great game. Two teams battling. I thought we had some really good moments in that game. The third quarter got away from us a little bit. But other than that, I was really proud of our fight. I was proud of the resiliency we showed.
"We were together even when they were going on a run. We didn't really doubt ourselves or anything like that. We still stayed confident. I'm just proud of this group, honestly.
"We did something special. And we thought we were going to continue on to the Elite Eight. Came up short. But it doesn't take away from our season and the growth we've had with our program.
"And just I think obviously this is just the beginning for us in rebuilding this program. And our players are leaving a legacy. No matter what, they've etched their names in history, the NCAA history and also UVA history. I'm just proud of them.”
Game Notes:
- Virginia is 37-26 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
- The Cavaliers are 7-6 in the Sweet Sixteen
- Virginia drops to 1-1 in the all-time series with TCU
- Double-figure scorers: Johnson (18), Clark (20)
- Johnson scored in double figures for the 31st time this season
- Clark recorded her 14th game of the season in double figures
- The Cavaliers were outrebounded 38-29 and fall to 2-5 when being outrebounded
- Clark recorded back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in her career
- A double-digit seed has not reached the regional final since 2022
- Virginia’s bench outscored TCU’s 15-2
- The Cavaliers recorded the most wins in a season (22) since 2011-12 (25)
- UVA reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2000
- Virginia recorded three wins in an NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996
- The Cavaliers made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018
- Virginia recorded 11 wins in ACC play for the first time since 1999-00
- UVA broke the program record for blocks in a season (216) for the second consecutive season