Coming off the bench in the Virginia women’s basketball team’s 95-82 victory against Louisiana Tech, sophomore guard Faith Randolph went six for 10. With just three games behind her, Randolph has demonstrated marked improvement from last year, accumulating 51 points in just 79 minutes, more than a third of all the points she scored last year.
“Freshman year I was kind of learning things, learning how the offense is here at Virginia,” Randolph said. “This year, I’m more comfortable with what we’re trying to bring out here on the court and my teammates are putting more responsibility on me as a scorer — and as well as a defender — so I’m trying to live that up every time I come out there.”
After ending her freshman campaign making just 62 of 252 shots, Randolph used the offseason to improve her shooting skills.
“I’ve definitely worked on finishing at the rim, my midrange and then shooting at the 3-point line,” Randolph said. “I’m trying to boost up my percentages from last year. I know I’m a better shooter than the percentages may seem [to indicate].”
In addition to increasing her shot percentage, Randolph brings a confidence and energy to this year’s team that does not go unnoticed by her teammates.
“Getting that one year under her belt has been tremendous for [Randolph],” senior guard Ataira Franklin said. “She has a whole different level of confidence. I think that’s part of the reason why she’s such an aggressive player this year.”
Although Randolph contributed 14 points to Virginia’s victory against the Lady Techsters on Saturday, she also helped the team in ways that cannot be captured by statistics.
“It was just her energy, and she kept talking on defense, like, ‘S.I., you got it. Keep pushing,’” junior forward Sarah Imovbioh said. “She was just talking to me and everyone just bought into the defensive end, and I think that was what really helped us.”
The combination of Randolph’s increased presence and a strong bench gives the Cavaliers an optimistic outlook on the rest of the season.
“I think we can do great things,” Randolph said. “We can run more, defend harder and press up more. We’re healthy. We have guards that can create chaos on the defensive end and make buckets too. We have good post play. We just got to come together and work it out.”
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