“They played a tremendous game. We did not do some of the things we needed to do.”
Although Virginia women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan could be accused of stating the obvious following the Cavaliers’ 76-53 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals last week, the two sentences nevertheless serve to explain the squad’s early exit from postseason conference competition. Although No. 24 Virginia(23-9, 8-6 ACC) managed to upend in-state rival Virginia Tech 66-57 in first round action Thursday night, the team failed to build upon the victory and turned in a lackluster performance against the No. 8 Blue Devils Friday in the Greensboro Coliseum.
“Mainly, I don’t think we defended very well,” Ryan said. “That’s where we really lost the game. If you defend well, they can’t pressure you, and we did not defend well in the start of the game.”
Having received a first-round bye as the tournament’s fourth seed, Duke watched the fifth through 12th seeds play before finally tipping off in Friday’s nightcap. The Blue Devils showed no signs of rustiness, however, and instead it was the Cavaliers who came out cold. After Virginia senior center Aisha Mohammed made a layup 20 seconds into the game to knot the score at two apiece, Duke responded by stringing together 17 unanswered points.
Virginia eventually found the basket seven minutes later on two free throws from junior guard Monica Wright, but the bulk of the damage had been done. Senior center Chante Black, with 12 first-half points, led the Blue Devils as they continued to outpace the Cavaliers for the remainder of the half — scoring both down low and from beyond the arc.
Known more for its presence on the defensive end of the court, Duke still shot a season-high 58.6 percent from the floor during the opening period and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point line. Virginia, meanwhile, only managed 38.5 percent shooting and entered the break down 17 points.
“They came out and they pressured us,” Wright said. “They definitely got their bodies into us, and we definitely didn’t handle it the way we practiced and the way we planned to.”
The Cavaliers appeared to come out of the locker room more focused than in the first 20 minutes of action. The squad forced four Duke turnovers in the opening three minutes of the second half, converting on a fastbreak led by senior forward Lyndra Littles and an old-fashioned three-point play from Mohammed to cut the deficit to 12 with just more than 17 minutes to play. But the Blue Devils stepped up their play as well and closed the game by putting the finishing touches on what was — statistically speaking — their best offensive performance of the season. Duke finished with a 56 percent shooting percentage.
“When you play so explosively like that, it’s a very difficult thing to maintain,” Blue Devil coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I thought that our team did a great job of keeping intensity and fighting for that intensity throughout.”
Duke senior guard Abby Waner, in particular, helped keep up her team’s offensive intensity. The leader of the Blue Devils’ scoring column with 16 points against the Cavaliers, Waner sunk four shots from beyond the arc to give her the program record for three-pointers in tournament play.
“It is always nice when shots fall,” Waner said.
Mohammed was one of the few to experience the same luxury on the Cavaliers’ end of the court. Coming off a strong performance against Virginia Tech in which she notched her 13th double-double of the year — tying the previous ACC record for double-doubles in a season — Mohammed dropped a team-high 14 points and snagged nine rebounds. Wright also added 13 points, but her fellow first-team All-ACC teammate Littles struggled. The senior followed up a 6-for-14 shooting night against the Hokies by going just 3-for-14 from the field and tallying just eight points in the loss.
While the Blue Devils managed to build upon their victory against the Cavaliers, upsetting Florida State Saturday in similar fashion to advance to the tournament final before falling in overtime to No. 4 Maryland, Virginia finds itself struggling as the NCAA Tournament approaches next weekend. The Cavaliers await next Monday’s selection show to learn their seed and must look to improve upon the performance against Duke if they wish to advance past the first round. Ryan would earn her 700th career victory as a coach should the team win its opening matchup.
“At this time of the year — and really any time of the year — you have to focus on the process rather than the future or the past,” Ryan said. “The past is not going to make any difference for us.”
Read More
Virginia Athletics wins second straight Commonwealth Clash over Virginia Tech
By Eleanor Lynch | 21 hours agoThe Cavaliers’ fifth Commonwealth Clash victory over the last eight contests proves the athletic department’s overall success in recent years.
No. 6 men’s lacrosse falters late, fumbling chance at huge victory over No. 1 Notre Dame
By Michael Liebermann | YesterdayThe ache of last season's defeat will persist.
No. 6 women’s lacrosse eliminated by No. 4 Syracuse in ACC Semifinal
By Peter Kratz | YesterdayA forgettable first-half performance sunk the ship for the Cavaliers.
