It was perfectly fitting for the Virginia women's basketball team that sophomore center Schuye LaRue had one of her best games of the season and carried the Cavaliers on the same night that she scored the 1,000th point of her career.
LaRue scored a career-high 33 points on 15-for-21 shooting and grabbed 18 rebounds as Virginia escaped with a victory against Hampton last night at University Hall.
"Schuye had a great game, and if it weren't for her in the first half, I don't know where we would have been," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said.
LaRue, who now has 1,005 career points, became the 18th Cavalier to surpass the 1,000-point barrier. Forward Svetlana Volnaya, who scored nine points in the game, is one point away from joining that elite group.
Hampton "played zone the whole game, so I just tried to keep myself moving to get the ball swung around for some open shots," LaRue said.
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In addition to scoring, LaRue played 38 minutes of tight defense against a smaller Hampton squad. The Lady Pirates' most effective offensive weapon was guard Lashondra Dixon, who connected mostly on long-range jumpers to record 34 points in 38 minutes. Dixon scored the first 15 Hampton points. Nine of Hampton's 25 field goals were three-pointers.
Virginia, meanwhile, shot 2-for-19 from three-point range.
"We weren't getting a lot of help from the perimeter tonight, and that really hurt us," Ryan said.
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, LaRue proved to be a force inside and frustrated the Pirates time and time again. She blocked four shots, grabbed 14 defensive rebounds (18 total) and collected four steals. LaRue notched her 19th double-double of the season, 28th of her career.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Virginia players did not have such success. It appeared Volnaya was going to provide a second scoring threat early on in the second half, but she picked up her fourth foul with 8 minutes, 5 seconds remaining and was used sparingly thereafter. Going into the game against Hampton, Volnaya had a streak of five consecutive games of scoring 10 points or more.
LaRue was the lone bright spot in a Virginia offense that seemed a little out of sync without guard Telisha Quarles. Quarles, the team's third-leading scorer, sat on the bench for the entire first half for violating team regulations and could not get into any kind of rhythm in the 12 minutes she played.
Virginia's dismal shooting told the story. The Cavaliers connected on a paltry 29-of-71 shots for 40.8 percent shooting as a team. Add the numbers up if you want. Without LaRue's 71.4 percent from the field, Virginia shot a deplorable 28 percent.
"I don't think you can worry about how you win games at the end of the year," Ryan said. "You just have to win"
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