The Virginia women’s basketball team traveled to Grand Bahama Island over Thanksgiving weekend to compete against a tough field at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament. The Cavaliers lost a pair of hard-fought games to No. 3 Tennessee and Kansas State to finish November on a three-game slide.
Virginia (3-4) jumped out to a 7-0 lead against the powerhouse Lady Vols (7-0) in the first three minutes of their Thanksgiving day matchup. The Cavaliers maintained their advantage against Tennessee until junior guard Ariel Massengale’s layup a minute and a half into the second half.
The eventual tournament champion Tennessee later reeled off a 10-0 run to turn a tie game into a 55-45 lead with 13:26 on the clock. Virginia battled back to pull within five on sophomore guard Faith Randolph’s 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining, but the Cavaliers misfired on their final four shots to seal the loss.
Senior guard Ataira Franklin poured in 25 points for Virginia — including 19 in the first half — while Tennessee senior guard Meighan Simmons knocked down eight 3-pointers en route to a 32-point outing for Tennessee.
Virginia returned to the court Friday for the consolation game against Kansas State (3-3), and once again watched a late rally fall short for a disappointing 49-46 loss. The Cavaliers went into the break trailing 21-18 after making just seven shots from the field, five of which came from junior forward Sarah Imovbioh, who kept the matchup close by scoring 12 points in the period on 5-of-10 shooting.
With the Cavaliers trailing 47-40 with 4:15 remaining, senior guard Kelsey Wolfe took over, scoring five unanswered points to whittle the Wildcat lead to two with just under two minutes remaining. Virginia faltered down the stretch, however, making just 1-of-4 free throw attempts and missing two potential game-tying three-pointers in the final minute.
Virginia plays Michigan Thursday evening at John Paul Jones Arena in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.
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