It was Senior Day at University Hall yesterday, but at the end of the game, the spotlight was shining on a Cavalier freshman.
Virginia point guard Sharnee Zoll hit her lone field goal of the game with 29 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Cavaliers (19-9, 8-6 ACC) the decisive lead change in a close game against Wake Forest (14-13, 3-11). Zoll would add a free throw with 11.7 seconds remaining to secure the 57-54 win for Virginia. Zoll's shooting at the end of the game erased what was an otherwise poor day of shooting for the point guard.
"I hadn't been shooting well from the line, so all I heard from the sideline from [Virginia coach Debbie Ryan] was 'Don't miss it,'" Zoll said. "I have to think that I love free throws and just shoot them."
Zoll's shot with 29 seconds remaining came after a timeout was called with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. During that time, Ryan drew up a play to get her young star an open look.
"I just went and took the shot," Zoll said. "I wasn't thinking about what had happened in the past. I was thinking about hitting that shot for my team and for our seniors."
The day was vindication of sorts for this year's senior class, a class that last year endured Virginia's first losing season since Ryan took over the Virginia program in the 1977-78 season. All five seniors started the game and were well received by the season-high crowd of 7,001.
"I was proud of our seniors being able to start with four post players and LaTonya [Blue] out there and play well," Ryan said. "No matter what, they stayed in the game. We had to fight back three or four times, and I was really proud of the effort and resiliency we showed."
A lot of the resilience Ryan spoke about came at the start of the second half when the Cavaliers scored the first 12 points of the half to erase a nine-point deficit. Virginia's run was capped by sophomore Brenna McGuire's only bucket of the game, a three pointer with 15:01 left to play. But the run was fueled as much by the Cavalier defense as by the offense. Virginia held the Demon Deacons scoreless until 5:10 in the half had passed.
"We talked about defense [at halftime]," senior forward Jocelyn Logan-Friend said. "They had scored 36 points in the first half, and we knew that we had to pick up our effort."
In a hard-fought game in which a total of 38 fouls were called, no one took a harder foul than Zoll. Zoll played the final eight minutes of the game with a black eye after an inadvertent elbow to the face from Wake Forest's Cotelia Bond-Young.
"She played with a lot of heart today, she really did," Ryan said. "She really got popped in the eye pretty good. It was a war."
As important as Zoll's shots were at the end of the game, they were set up by a big shot from senior forward Kate Kreager. The Cavaliers tied the game at 54 when the senior stepped outside and hit only her third three-pointer of the season with three minutes left in the game.
"It was huge," Ryan said. "The clock was going down, and she knows that she has the green light when the clock is going down. It was great to see a senior do that, especially a senior post player."
The Cavaliers now will await the announcement of the ACC Tournament bracket tonight to see who they will play this weekend.
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