After a dramatic victory over Charlotte, the Virginia women's basketball team will look to extend its season tonight against South Florida in the third round of the WNIT tournament at John Paul Jones Arena.
To win however, the Cavaliers will need to demonstrate a better defensive performance than they did last Monday. In the first half, the Cavaliers (18-14) allowed many open jump shots, allowing Charlotte (19-13) to stay in the game andtake the lead going into the second half.
"We are still nowhere near where we need to be on defense," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "We work, and we work, and we work on it, but we are still not where we need to be."
Charlotte sophomore guard Traci Ray proved the Cavaliers' weakness, scoring 14 points --including several wide-open three-point shots -- in the first half alone. In the second half, Virginia was able to use its guards to disrupt Ray's rhythm just enough to eke out a victory.
"When we got [junior] Sharneé [Zoll] on her and [freshman] Monica [Wright] on her, she got distracted," Ryan said. "She's a very heady guard, so we needed to take her out of the game."
Virginia will look to do the same tonight against Kodak All-American Jessica Dickson. The senior forward scored 24 points in South Florida's victory against Coppin State in its second-round game.Dickson and her team certainly have the respect of the Virginia team and coaching staff.
"They should be in the field of 64 [teams]," Ryan said. "They've had a great year. We have our work cut out for us."
The other player of note on the Bulls' roster is senior center Nalini Miller. Miller played on the same high school basketball team as Virginia sophomore forward Lyndra Littles. Their battle in the low post is a contest both are looking forward to.
"She text-messaged me the other day and told me she was going to play me," Littles said. "She was a big sister to me growing up in high school. She was always looking out for me, making sure I was doing my work."
Littles will have to go to work on the glass if Virginia will have a chance tonight. Despite out-rebounding Charlotte 38-35, the Cavaliers gave multiple offensive rebounds to the 49ers for easy possessions. In the first half, 13 of Charlotte's 39 points were second-chance points, compared to just two of the Cavaliers' 35 points.
The rest of the Cavaliers know they must play their hardest against South Florida (21-11), as it may be their last game of the season.
Seniors Siedah Williams and Brenna McGuire must once again face the reality that this may be their last game as Cavaliers. Against Charlotte, both played at a high level, scoring 11 points apiece. Williams -- who recently became the 23rd player in Virginia women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points -- will look to finish her season strongly after scoring double-figures in three out of her last four games.
"I feel like this whole season is dedicated to the seniors because of how hard they've worked and how much time they've put into this program," Wright said. "I definitely wanted to work extra hard knowing that this could be the last game for the seniors"
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