The Virginia women’s basketball team bounced back from Thursday’s loss to Duke by defeating in-state rival Virginia Tech 69-61 Sunday. The victory improved the Cavaliers’ standing (19-5, 5-3 ACC), tying them for fifth place with Boston College in the league. The win also leaves the team with an opportunity to claim a strong seed heading into the ACC tournament, which begins March 5.
“I think we are going in a direction we want to be going,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “I think the main thing right now is resting them and making sure they know what to expect and go out and play.”
The Cavaliers got off to a rocky start, trailing 23-8 just eight minutes into the first half. Lindsay Biggs led the Virginia Tech attack, pouring in 11 points — including three 3-pointers — in the first five and a half minutes of the game for the Hokies (11-13, 1-8 ACC).
Virginia’s lackluster man-to-man defense, which Virginia Tech exploited with several impressive backdoor cuts to the basket, was largely responsible for the early 15-point deficit, prompting Ryan to switch to a 2-3 zone midway through the half. The change flustered the Hokies and allowed the Cavaliers to open up a 17-2 run, giving them a 27-25 lead with 4:30 left in the half.
“When we went on that run, it really felt like a boys’ game,” junior guard Monica Wright said. “It was electric in there. That really gave us a lot of energy.”
Ryan said she was pleased with her team’s sudden success after switching to the zone defense.
“I just noticed we were doing some things we don’t normally do,” Ryan said. “So I went to the zone and when it worked I stayed with it. We got 12 stops in a row, so if it ain’t broke, I’m not gonna fix it.”
After taking a 35-32 lead into halftime, Virginia became increasingly comfortable with Virginia Tech’s 2-3 zone defense. The team continued to use good ball movement and finished in the paint, something the Cavaliers struggled to do during the first half. The Cavaliers were also able to use their improved defense to fend off any chance of a Virginia Tech comeback, as they scored 16 points off 18 Virginia Tech turnovers. Perhaps the two biggest converted turnovers came with about 10 minutes left in the game, when Lyndra Littles made a steal and converted a layup, followed by Monica Wright doing the same on the next possession to stave off a potential Tech run and make the score 51-46.
Virginia Tech refused to fold, however, as they traded baskets with Virginia for most of the second half, not allowing the game to get out of hand until the 2:14 mark, when the Cavaliers reached their largest lead of the game, 66-55.
“We came out and we were moving the ball extremely well on offense,” Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger said. “And defensively I think we did a nice job of stopping their transition game, keeping them off the boards. Those are two things you really have to do when you play Virginia.”
One key to Virginia’s success in maintaining its lead was the second-half performance of senior center Aisha Mohammed, who scored 11 of her 13 points and hauled in six of her nine rebounds in the second half.
“She was really wanting the ball, you could see it in her,” Ryan said. “She got every rebound — I mean, you can play a zone if you’re going to rebound like that. She was a monster on the boards today.”
In typical fashion, Littles and Wright led the Cavaliers in the scoring column, putting up 23 and 22 points, respectively. Biggs was Virginia Tech’s top scorer with 14 points, despite only scoring three points during the second half.
Free-throw shooting was another point of contention, as Virginia shot 16-24 while Virginia Tech shot 5-10 from the line. This discrepancy was indicative of Virginia’s aggression and willingness to attack the basket. Virginia Tech relied heavily on outside shooting, knocking down six out of 18 three-point attempts, compared to Virginia’s 1-5 three-point shooting.
Before the game, Ryan warned her players of the need to forget about the fact that they beat the Hokies earlier this season, and told her team to focus on not taking anything for granted against an upset-minded Virginia Tech squad.
“That’s what I started my pre-game speech off with,” Ryan said. “That this was a very dangerous game primarily because it’s an in-state rivalry, you’ve already won once, so you’re feeling a lit bit puffed out even though you really shouldn’t be.”
After the game, Virginia players praised their opponents’ valiant road effort.
“They did a great job of playing out our weaknesses,” Wright said. “And they did a good job scouting us and when we play a team for the second time we just gotta make sure we don’t make the same mistakes we made the first time.”
The Cavaliers return to action Thursday against Maryland in their first away game in more than a week.
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