Strong finishes are beginning to look like the Virginia women’s basketball team’s specialty these days, as it followed Thursday’s 84-75 overtime win against Miami with a 55-point second half effort to cap off a 90-70 victory against Boston College last night.
The Cavaliers (21-7, 7-5 ACC) outscored the Eagles (18-9, 6-6 ACC) 55-33 in the second half to put an exclamation point on an emotional senior night in John Paul Jones Arena.
Not only was last night’s contest pivotal in terms of being the deciding tiebreaker between two teams locked at fifth place in the ACC standings, but it also marked the final home game for seniors Lyndra Littles, Aisha Mohammed, Britnee Millner and Kristen London. Littles led the impressive senior charge, scoring 27 points on 9-16 shooting.
The win “was huge,” Littles said. “Collectively all five of us, yes, we know it’s senior night, but we’re here to take care of business and we’ll celebrate after and I think that’s what we went out there and did because we know the significance of this game.”
Junior guard Monica Wright also was instrumental to the Cavaliers’ second half surge, scoring 22 of her 27 points in the period. Boston College simply had no answer for the dynamic duo of Wright and Littles, who continually fed off each other’s confidence and gave the Eagle’s defense fits. The two combined for 54 points, five steals and 15 rebounds. Boston College, which had turned the ball over 106 times in the course of its previous five games, committed 10 turnovers in the second half while Virginia committed just one.
“I felt like we stepped up the pressure,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “We kept our turnovers down, and that was the difference in the game.”
After trailing 37-35 at the half, the Cavaliers started to find a rhythm in their transition game, capitalizing off 19 Boston College turnovers. London’s three-pointer four minutes into the second half gave Virginia a 42-41 lead, its first since the 2:02 mark of the first half and one that the Cavaliers would never relinquish. A jumper by Boston College sophomore center Carolyn Swords cut Virginia’s margin to 48-47 at the 12:23 mark, but Wright quickly answered on the other end with a smooth mid-range jump shot that spurred a 9-0 Virginia run over the ensuing two minutes. The game was never close after that, as Virginia held Boston College scoreless for the final 1:52 of the game en route to a 20-point victory, the team’s largest lead of the game.
If there was one bright spot for Boston College, it was the dominating performance of Swords, who put up 31 points on 13-17 shooting along with 10 rebounds. Swords leads the nation in field goal percentage, shooting an impressive 68 percent from the floor this season. She already holds the Boston College record for shooting after averaging 64.2 percent last season.
“That’s a tough assignment for anybody out there,” Ryan said. “She’s just a clinic, she’s a frigin’ clinic out there.”
The Cavaliers controlled the first 15 minutes of the game, taking advantage of nine Boston College turnovers and leading by nine with five minutes to go in the first half. The Eagles, however, led by Swords’ 15 first-half points, refused to quit; Boston College took a 31-30 edge off junior guard Mickel Picco’s three-pointer with 2:02 left in the half, but a buzzer-beating 23-footer by freshman Ariana Moorer cut the Boston College halftime lead to 37-35.
“I think Ari’s gettin’ it,” Littles said. “I don’t consider her a freshman anymore on the basketball court. Going into the postseason, she’s maturing. I think she’s a very important part of this turnaround we’re having.”
After the game, Ryan and the four seniors each gave tear-jerking speeches to the many fans on hand, reflecting on the perseverance needed to devote so much time and effort to the team over the years while also thanking their families, coaches and fans who helped make it all worth it — an appropriate gesture on Fan Appreciation Night at JPJ. Ryan said “they’ve come a long, long way,” emphasizing the remarkable growth of her players on and off the court.
After the speeches, though, the seniors emphasized their ability to put all sentiments aside and simply take care of business on the court.
“When you get out there and the ball tips, you get out there and play basketball,” Littles said. “I think it just shifts from all the emotions to ‘Okay, we’re just out here, we’re just playing, and whatever we do later, we just deal with it later.’”
Virginia now must face a tough ending to its regular season, as the team travels to Florida State (23-5, 11-1 ACC) Tuesday and Georgia Tech (19-8, 6-6 ACC) Sunday. The Cavaliers lost to Florida State 80-75 in their last meeting Jan. 23 at JPJ.
“They’re a good basketball team,” Littles said. “They’re playing together, and when you win games and you get momentum, you also get a lot of confidence. We have to go out there and make sure we do all the things that we did in the game that we played them that were right and eliminate the mistakes that we made.”
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