In the first few seconds of the game, it looked as if both Virginia (13-7, 2-6) and Virginia Tech (15-5, 2-5) would run each other off the court. As the scoring opportunities became more important down the stretch, though, Virginia Tech converted on their shots and Virginia failed to do so. The Hokies knocked off the Cavaliers 65-52 behind a 24-point performance by senior guard Carrie Mason and postponed Virginia's first home ACC win of the season to a later date.
Virginia was hurt by errors due to inexperience and their inability to stop Virginia Tech's dynamic offense. This combination caused the Cavaliers to drop their third consecutive game.
"We are digging a pretty deep hole," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "And the first rule of hole is to stop digging. But that is all we are doing right now. And that is something that we have to learn."
Plagued by inconsistent play, Virginia's offense mustered only 33.8 percent shooting from the floor. The only Cavalier to score in double digits was sophomore point guard Sharneé Zoll, who tallied 17 points in the loss. Aside from Zoll, the team shot only 14-of-51 from the floor and 1-of-11 from behind the arc. At one point in the first half, Virginia's offense failed to score on six consecutive possessions.
"It was not like they were pressuring us like any other team has or throwing anything at us that we have not seen," Zoll said. "I think that we were not focused. We were trying to do things too quickly. We had a couple of traveling calls. And we were trying to force things that were not there."
Defensively, however, Virginia was stingy and disruptive, forcing the Hokies into 24 turnovers, four more than the Cavaliers. But despite the team's overall defensive effort, several lapses allowed Virginia Tech to pull ahead. In some cases, Virginia used tough full court pressure to produce steals. In others, though, the pressure broke down and allowing the Hokies to easily convert.
"I thought that we started with [defensive] good intensity," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "But it just seemed to me that when our shots are not going, it seems to affect us on both ends of the court. I thought tonight it affected defense as much as it did offense. We got great shots today -- we were not taking bad shots for the most part. But when they don't go down, it starts to affect what you do defensively."
At the start, both teams featured different lineups than previously expected. Virginia freshman forward Lyndra Little started the first game of her career and the Hokies started freshman Amber Hall for the first time as well, due to a suspension and injury of two different teammates. No matter who Virginia Tech had on the floor, though, Virginia could not get over the hump.
"You have to give Tech credit for not letting us get closer," Ryan said. "They were hitting their shots tonight."
The Hokies hit 45.5 percent of their shots, and took until the last few minutes of the game to pull away with the win. The close game gave the Cavaliers the opportunity to close the gap, but they failed to finish every chance.
"We would pull within two or four and then we would make a critical error and it would just deflate us," Ryan said. "That is a sign of a young, inexperienced team."
Virginia will have to recover quickly, with No. 6 Maryland playing host to the Cavaliers Sunday. The Terps needed overtime to defeat Virginia in January, knocking them off 84-74 in University Hall.
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