For Virginia women’s basketball, shaking a frustrating losing streak is paramount. The Cavaliers (6-5, 0-1 ACC) have now lost four straight games, with the latest blemish coming against Boston College Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena. Unable to keep up with the quick lead that the Eagles (7-4, 1-0 ACC) built, Virginia fell to Boston College 57-72 — making this its first conference game and first conference loss of the season.
Notably, the Cavaliers shot a downright ghastly 2-23 from three-point range. That metric doomed an offense that has scored less than 70 points in a game five times this year. Coupled with sloppy play, Virginia had a rough afternoon.
The Cavaliers seemed to be in a panic early — giving up five turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. Off of those turnovers, they gave the Eagles six points. Even the first planned play of the game, which is usually smooth and fast-moving, was sloppy. The ball was accidentally passed out of bounds before Virginia even had a chance to try and score.
Boston College was not without its own mistakes though. Multiple travels and fouls put the Eagles in just as much of a scramble as the Cavaliers — yet, they managed to stay ahead of Virginia on the scoreboard. While the teams’ shooting accuracies were relatively even in the first half, the Eagles stood out by taking more shots on the basket. This gave them the push they needed to solidify a strong offense, unlike the Cavaliers.
There were two moments during the first half that Virginia was just a mere point behind Boston College, but it ultimately was not playing at the level required to surpass its opponents.
When Virginia finally did seem to wake up and hit its stride, there was only a minute or so left in the first half — it was too little too late — the Cavaliers were behind by 13 points.
There was a standout player that was doing everything she could to try and turn the game around, though — senior forward Latasha Lattimore was leading the team with 11 points and six rebounds. She consistently forced turnovers and drew fouls to get more points on the board — a strong turnaround from her recent performance against Auburn. Lattimore also was the one to get the first points on the board for Virginia, showing her consistency across the half.
“[I’m] just going out there and doing whatever I can for my teammates,” Lattimore said. “...knowing the plays, rebounding, being confident in my move, my skill set…I can bring a lot to the table.”
The second half was not much of a turnaround from the first half unfortunately. The crowd sighed in dismay as the Cavaliers kicked off the third quarter with a shot clock violation on offense — it looked like they had lost all prior momentum and started back at square one.
An insurmountable series of mistakes cursed Virginia throughout the fourth quarter. Falling over opponents and themselves to try and secure a ball they lost, shooting at the three-point line with no one under the basket to rebound, traveling and knocking the ball out of bounds.
But even with the Cavaliers’ struggles, Lattimore continued to step up on the court. Looking for openings and grabbing rebounds, she made sure that the Eagles’ lead did not get larger than it already was.
With a little more than two minutes left in the final quarter, Lattimore reached the 21-point mark — surpassing her season-high of 19 points scored in one game. By the final whistle, her new season-high was a whopping 23 points.
“We got to get our confidence back,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We got to get back on the same page, get some people healthy, [we] can’t keep turning the ball over the way we are.”
In the midst of the losing streak, Virginia has struggled with an identity crisis. Sophomore guard Olivia McGhee did not play — but because of a coaching decision, not an injury. McGhee was the 45th best recruit in the 2023 high school class, but had been shooting 36.5 percent from the field and an atrocious 28.4 percent from three-point range.
The season is still in its early phases, but unless the losing streak is snapped soon, it may be time to ring the alarm bells for this struggling Cavalier squad. Up next, they have a short break before a relatively easy opportunity to break the streak against UMES Dec. 17 at John Paul Jones Arena.
Read More
Virginia adds six promising players in second week of the transfer period
By Peter Kriebel | 20 hours agoVirginia has reinforced several positions throughout its roster, and more additions may be on the way.
Reflecting on a year of incredible achievement by women’s sports at Virginia
By Eleanor Buchanan , Caroline Wulff and Cierra Lyles | YesterdayThree Cavalier Daily staff writers share their thoughts on 2024 highlights.
Late run pushes men’s basketball past American
By Thomas Baxter | 2 days agoVirginia squeezed out a win to end non-conference play.
