The Virginia women's basketball team will try to make two wins in a row as they entertain the North Florida Ospreys tonight at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers enter this game with a 13-10 record, desperate to gain any win they can en route to a postseason berth-- especially against the 6-15 Ospreys. With a month left, Virginia remains confident that there is still much to be done in the season.
"This is the beginning of something that can be great," junior guard Sharnee Zoll said. "The NCAA and the WNIT committees look at the last 10 games. If we can pull some of these out and play our best, and play like we did [against Duke], we can shock some people."
This new attitude came about after a 16-point loss to Florida State, when a dejected Virginia team needed something to get them back on track.
"I'll be honest with you, they were very down and very uptight about everything," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "I took the tactic that we were going to have fun this week."
That fun included a variety of tactics from creating nicknames for Duke, practicing fall-away jumpers in honor of junior guard Sean Singletary and watching Virginia assistant coach Jeff House throw away his carefully crafted Duke scouting report moments before the game.
"We were in there like, 'Somebody stop him. He's going crazy.'" Zoll said. "Coach House is meticulous, just detailed, and when he just started erasing his stuff, I just grabbed [sophomore forward Lyndra Littles] like, 'Oh my God, Lyndra, the world's about to end!'"
The world did not end. In fact, the Cavaliers played one of their best games all season.
Instead of getting destroyed by 30 points like they did against North Carolina, Connecticut and Maryland, the Cavaliers trailed the No. 1 team in the country by seven points with four minutes to go before falling eventually 76-61.
"I think we gained a lot from the Duke game. We gained confidence, and we gained poise. This game could have gone a different way," Ryan said. "This streak has helped the team define themselves to a certain degree and realize that every night you have to come out and play."
Virginia did just that in the second half of the Miami game, going on a 17-5 run to open the half and cruise to a much-needed victory.
"Basketball is a game. It's not a job to us," Zoll said. "We're not getting paid for this, and we're all 18 to 22-year-olds. This should be fun."
These approaches may be different, or maybe even unorthodox, but so far Virginia has played some if it's best basketball in over a month.
As long as Virginia continues to improve, do not expect changes any time soon.
"You see a team that has nothing to lose," Ryan said. "They felt like they could win. That's all I needed to get to because when you are in a losing streak, you have to find something to help them understand they are getting better; they see that."
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