GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-15, 4-14 ACC) suffered a 68-57 loss against Wake Forest (15-15, 5-13 ACC) in the first round of the 2023 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday (March 1) at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
The Cavaliers cut a 13-point first-half deficit down to one point in the opening seconds of the third quarter, but Wake Forest mounted a 21-1 run in that same period to build up a 21-point lead. Virginia struck back in the fourth quarter, going on a 14-2 run that cut the deficit to six points and trailed 62-57 with 3:44 remaining in the contest, but the Wake Forest defense held UVA scoreless for the remainder of the contest.
Camryn Taylor led the Cavaliers with 19 points and eight rebounds. Alexia Smith finished with 14 points, matching her career high. Jewel Spear scored 19 points for the Demon Deacons while Elise Williams had 14. Demeara Hinds had 11 rebounds with eight points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
McKenna Dale dished a pass to a wide-open Taylor at the top of the arc 26 seconds into the game. Taylor added a free throw 30 seconds later to give UVA a 4-0 lead, but then the momentum shifted. Wake Forest scored 12 points in a 2:35 span, with a steal and a fastbreak layup from Spear with 6:01 left in the quarter prompting a Virginia timeout. After the time out, both teams traded misses on their ends of the court until Williams rolled a layup around the rim and into the net, extending Wake’s lead to 14-4 with 4:05 remaining. London Clarkson ended a 7:21 span for UVA without a field goal and a streak of eight straight missed field goal attempts with a jumper with 2:13 remaining. Taylor made a layup with 13.3 seconds remaining to narrow the gap to 19-8 heading into the second quarter.
Smith hit a jumper to open the second quarter, getting the deficit back down to single digits. The Cavalier defense stepped up, forcing a shot clock violation on Wake’s first possession and Taylor taking a charge to force another turnover on the Demon Deacon’s second. A jumper by Taylor Valladay with seven minutes left cut it to a 19-12 game. After Wake missed its first four field goal attempts of the period, Williams made a layup followed by a jumper from Spear to go back up by double figures. Virginia ended a three-minute scoring drought with a pair of Clarkson free throws to make it 24-14 with four minutes left. A deep three from Smith cut the deficit to 24-17. The Cavaliers forced a…