An emotional second half comeback attempt fell short for No. 24 Virginia yesterday, as Virginia Tech escaped with a 63-62 victory at University Hall.
The Hokies had not won in Charlottesville since 1976, before the dawn of the Debbie Ryan era at Virginia. The outcome of the rivalry game came down to the final possession for the second time in two years.
"That was an awful lot of entertainment for Sunday at 1:00 in Charlottesville," Virginia Tech head coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
After trailing by as much as 14 points early in the second half, the Cavaliers rallied behind guard LaTonya Blue, who came off a first half suspension to record 15 points, four assists and four rebounds for the game.
Blue was crucial down the stretch, sinking three straight baskets with under five minutes left to cut the Hokies' lead to four points despite playing through pain in her shooting hand.
"Not playing the first half I was a little cold coming in, but I just figured I had to go out there and suck it up and play," Blue said.
After a two-point bucket from senior guard Anna Prillaman and four straight points from Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers regained momentum with an uncontested three-pointer from Prillaman, bringing the score to 63-60 in favor of the Hokies.
Junior forward Brandi Teamer missed two important free throws with 1:23 to go in the game, but drove to the hoop and brought the score to 63-62 with eight seconds to play.
After a Virginia timeout, the Hokies committed two consecutive non-shooting fouls, giving the Cavaliers two opportunities to make the same entry pass to Teamer under the basket, but a mob of four Tech players prevented Teamer from scoring.
"I probably should have kicked it out, but I didn't," Teamer said. "I'm going to be dreaming about things I could have done."
Virginia's late run was a contrast to their first-half play, when the Cavaliers shot 39 percent from the floor and struggled to contain Tech's sophomore guard Carrie Mason.
Mason only scored three of her total 18 points in the second half, a difference Ryan attributed to the defense of Blue.
While the defense held solid late in the game, the Cavalier offense looked disorganized at times, with Virginia suffering from lack of a true point guard. Prillaman shifted to the top of the key when starting point guard Safiya Grant-Fairley subbed out. Prillaman was a consistent force for the Cavaliers, playing 37 out of 40 possible minutes and scoring 10 points, including a three-pointer with two minutes to play that cut the Hokie lead to three. The Virginia native was emotional following the loss to an in-state rival.
"Losing at home is extremely hard, and losing by one is extremelyhard, and losing to Virginia Tech is even 10 times harder," Prillaman said.
Foul trouble was an issue for Virginia, as forward Anna Crosswhite fouled out of the game with under five minutes to play, and Teamer was held out with three fouls for parts of the second half.
The Cavaliers found positives in a rare home loss, such as their ability to shut down 6-foot-4 Hokie star Ivea Kublina, holding her below a double-double.
"We don't usually lose here." Ryan said."We don't lose to anybody here."
Virginia will leave the comfort of home and the bitterness of the loss to Tech behind as they travel to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Classic over Thanksgiving weekend.
Read More
You cannot say money is the problem for Virginia football
By Peter Kriebel | 6 hours agoMoney, after all, is just one aspect of a winning program.
West Coast woes strike again as men’s basketball gets hammered by Stanford
By Emory Huffman | 17 hours agoVirginia, once again in a lost season, looked aimless on the floor.
ISTVAN: Tony Bennett left Virginia in a hole
By Ben Istvan | YesterdayHis decision to retire doomed this men's basketball season.
