Coming off consecutive two-point losses to nationally ranked George Washington and at South Carolina last week, Virginia's women's basketball team got back to its winning ways Sunday afternoon with an 80-59 victory against Richmond.
The Cavaliers (2-2) had four players in double figures, led by sophomore Monica Wright's career-high 27 points, and used an early first-half run to take control of the game and avenge last season's 75-72 loss in Richmond.
"We started a little bit slow," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "I thought we were a little hesitant to start the game, and then as we played on, we had two very good stretches where we played some really good defense. That led to some scoring and some separation, and that was the tale of the game I thought."
The Spiders (1-3) seemed poised as they took an early 8-4 lead with 15:31 remaining in the first half and Virginia junior center Aisha Mohammed on the bench with two quick fouls. The next 8.5 minutes, however, were dominated by the Cavaliers as Virginia went on a 25-2 run.
Wright got off to a slow start as well, but quickly heated up, scoring 15 of her game-high 27 points in the first half. She was coming off of two tough shooting nights against George Washington and South Carolina.
"The basket got bigger [for Monica] after she missed her first three and then I made her laugh," Ryan said. "I just talked to her a little bit and tried to get her focused on something else other than the misses, and that's when she just started to open up and play which is exactly what we needed her to do."
When asked what Ryan did to make her laugh, Wright once again cracked a smile.
"There's a little rule with the team that if you miss a lay-up, you have to do five push-ups," Wright said. "So I was pretty upset about missing the lay-ups so she made me come to the bench and said 'Right now, you are going to have to do five push-ups, mentally.'"
Despite the big run, Richmond cut the lead to 13 by halftime. Virginia opened up the second half with a 10-2 run, however, taking control of the game for good.
Senior guard Sharneé Zoll finished the game with 10 assists, bringing her closer to Dawn Staley's all-time assist mark. Zoll is now 144 short of the record.
"I'm looking to win games," Zoll said. "I'm not looking for the record. I'm looking to get back to the tournament."
Also in double figures for the Cavaliers were junior forward Lyndra Littles, Mohammed and sophomore guard Paulisha Kellum.
Littles helped spur the run in the first half, contributing 14 of her 18 points before intermission.
Mohammed only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble but still ended with 11 points and nine rebounds while Kellum followed up her career-high 19 point performance at South Carolina with 12 points.
Leading the way for Richmond were sophomore forward Katie Holzer, junior guard Johanna McKnight and freshman guard Brittani Shells. Holzer had a team-high 16 points while McKnight added 12 and Shells 11.
Next up for Virginia is nationally ranked Texas (2-1) in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Hawaii Friday afternoon. The Cavaliers will take on No. 21 Texas in the first game Friday at 6:20 Eastern Time. Virginia should be pretty familiar with the Longhorns' style of play under first-year coach Gail Goestenkors. Goestenkors went to Texas after building Duke into a women's basketball power in her 15-year tenure in Durham.
"She's going to try to get up and down the court and post up her guards," Ryan said of Goestenkors. "She's going to do a lot of things that Duke used to do probably but we'll be ready for all that. She'll be ready for us too."
Virginia comes into the game after its defeat of Richmond. Texas, on the other hand, enters the game after a 92-67 defeat at the hands of top-ranked Tennessee.
After Texas, Virginia will either face Minnesota or Kentucky Saturday and will conclude the tournament Sunday.
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