CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – For the second time in three outings, the Virginia women’s basketball team (14-5, 3-5 ACC) lost a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter resulting in a home loss at John Paul Jones Arena. Florida State benefited from poor fourth-quarter shooting by the Cavaliers to rally for a 77-68 victory to improve to 17-4 and 6-2 in ACC play on Thursday night (Jan. 19).
Trailing by 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Seminoles improved their road record to 6-1 by outscoring UVA 27-8 over the final 10 minutes.
Camryn Taylor led all scorers with 18 points while Sam Brunelle and London Clarkson added 11 points each for Virginia. Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson and Sara Bejedi topped the Seminoles with 15 points apiece. Latson came into the contest as the ACC’s top scorer, averaging 24.3 points per contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia jumped out to an early lead in the contest when Taylor made back-to-back baskets to give UVA a 6-2 lead that the Cavaliers built to an 11-5 advantage on a pull-up jumper by Clarkson at the 5:28 mark. Florida State responded with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to build a 15-11 lead. The Cavaliers managed to close the gap to a single point at 17-16 when Yonta Vaught stole the ball and hit a three-pointer as time expired in the opening quarter.
UVA used back-to-back three-point shots by Brunelle and Vaughn to take a 22-19 lead just two minutes into the second quarter. The two teams battled back and fourth with neither team leading by more than three points the remainder of the period before the Seminoles went to the locker room at halftime leading 38-37.
The Seminoles scored 24 points in the paint during the opening half and were aggressive on the boards, scoring nine second-chance points.
Virginia exploded in the third quarter, outscoring FSU 23-12, to grab a 60-50 lead. The Cavaliers switched to a zone defense that shut down the Seminoles inside scoring game and Florida State went cold from the field, making just three of 17 field goal attempts during the period, including a stretch of 12 consecutive misses over a six-minute span. UVA took advantage of Florida State’s poor shooting to go on a 17-1 run and lead 60-47 before FSU’s O’Mariah Gordon’s three-point shot with nine seconds left in the quarter.
Taylor keyed the Cavaliers during the third quarter, scoring 10 points.
The two teams did a complete flip in terms of performance in the fourth quarter. It was FSU that…