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Lyndra Littles scored 23 points to help UVa defeat South Florida. |
The Virginia women’s basketball team is apparently doing its best to provide some drama in the WNIT. After all, the Cavaliers battled down to the wire for the second straight game before pulling out a two-point victory at the John Paul Jones Arena. On Thursday, the Hoos made a late steal to seal the win as South Florida’s last-minute rally fell short 73-71.
“I was real proud of my team tonight. USF is a very, very good team. As I said when we won on Monday, they belong in the field of 64. They had a good enough season, their RPI was high, and they were one of the better teams we’ve played all year,” UVa coach Debbie Ryan said. “It’s great to win and I think this team is really working as hard as it can to win a championship.”
“That was a great college basketball game. That was a great atmosphere, and this is an unbelievable place to play a game,” South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said. “I wish Coach Ryan and her ball club the best as they go through. I told her it was a shame that we met so early, because I thought we were two of the best teams in this tournament.”
Virginia knocked off USF thanks to a balanced offensive attack. Lyndra Littles again led the way, pouring in 23 points to go with a game-high 9 rebounds. Siedah Willams added 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Monica Wright finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and two steals. Paulisha Kellum came off the bench to chip in 11 points as well. Sharnee Zoll provided 8 points and 8 assists, while Brenna McGuire scored 7.
In the end, the Bulls just couldn’t match up with all of the Cavs’ weapons. Especially Littles. She helped put South Florida in a lot of foul trouble and the resulting mismatches were too much to handle. Down the stretch, the Cavaliers routinely ran plays to get Littles free along the baseline or on the blocks and she delivered.
“We were running some things for her just to get her some stuff on the block because they were in foul trouble and they were having trouble handling her,” Ryan said. “We were clearing it out and giving her a chance to take it off the dribble and get to the other side of the rim sometimes. She was getting fouled almost every time she took the ball. … If we scored on a play, we stayed with it, whatever it was.”
UVa took control of the game early in the second half. After leading 34-31 at intermission thanks to a late Wright jumper, the Cavs fell behind in the first two minutes of the second half when USF opened with a 6-2 run to take a one-point lead twice in the early going. The Hoos responded, however, with a 12-3 burst of their own, which provided a 48-41 working margin that the Bulls could never completely overcome.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we wanted to … but we kept scoring also so it wasn’t like they scored and we didn’t score so we kept our lead,” Zoll said. “I think us having the lead almost the whole game helped us a whole lot because it gave us a little bit of a cushion.”
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Monica Wright chipped in 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. |
South Florida closed to within one point four times and to within two points seven times but the Big East visitors could never get over the hump. The Bulls’ final gasp came with an inbounds play from underneath their basket with just four seconds to play, but Wright stole a pass to the middle of the lane to seal the victory.
“I liked the way we finished the game. We were down six or seven points and got it down to two with the ball,” Fernandez said. “[Nalini] Miller was open in the lane, and we just couldn’t make the play, but it didn’t come down to the last four seconds. We play 40 minutes.”
The Cavaliers defended USF star Jessica Dickson well in the games final 15 seconds, a theme that carried throughout the night. She finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds after entering the contest averaging 19.5 points and 7.6 rebounds. The senior usually scores in different ways as well surpassing 39 3-pointers and 133 free throws during the season. Virginia didn’t let her do any of those things on Thursday – her 12 points included just two free throws and an 0-of-4 shooting night from 3-point range.
“We had to play team defense tonight on Dickson,” Ryan said. “We did a lot of switching, which created some turnovers for us. … We had a whole game plan to cover her. I thought that [Shantia] Grace hurt us, but that’s really what we gave up to not let Jessica get into any rhythm. She wasn’t in any rhythm at all. … She’s a tremendous player, but we just didn’t let her get into it tonight, which was a team effort.”
The Hoos advance to the WNIT Quarterfinals with the win. They travel to Wisconsin on Sunday for a 1:30 p.m. (Central Time) game. The Badgers defeated Kentucky, 67-61, on Thursday.
