The Virginia women’s basketball team fell to Syracuse Sunday afternoon with a final score of 84-75. The Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. carried no luck for the Cavaliers, who went cold in their bid to move above .500 in conference play after defeating No. 24 Florida State and No. 6 Maryland last week.
Virginia (10-10, 3-4 ACC) shot 39 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from the line in its first game against the Orange (15-5, 4-3 ACC) as conference opponents. The Cavaliers’ off-target shooting trend started with the team’s leading scorers: sophomore guard Faith Randolph went 3-for-6 from the field, and senior guard Ataira Franklin scored 19 points on 23 shots.
Junior forward Sarah Imovbioh helped keep Virginia in the game, scoring a team-high 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting while pulling down 13 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end. Senior guard Kelsey Wolfe rounded out Virginia’s double-digit scorers with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, and was the only Cavalier besides Imovbioh to score with efficiency.
Syracuse sophomore guards Brittney Sykes and Brianna Butler tore up the Virginia defense, with Sykes pouring in a game-high 27 points and Butler contributing 16 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Senior guard Rachel Coffey added 17 points and six assists against one turnover.
The orange ousted Virginia in both halves, taking a 37-33 lead into the break and outscoring the Cavaliers 47-42 in the second half. Virginia was within four points with a minute to play, but Syracuse put away the game by making all five of its free throws in the final minute.
Virginia next plays at Wake Forest in Winston Salem, N.C. Thursday.
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