CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (13-13, 5-10 ACC) scored the final 14 points of the game and four Cavaliers finished in double figures in its 77-60 victory over Miami (16-10, 6-9 ACC) Thursday night (Feb. 22) at John Paul Jones Arena. The win is UVA’s third in its last four games.
Kymora Johnson led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and dished out four assists. Johnson has scored at least 20 points in six of UVA’s last nine games. Camryn Taylor totaled 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added a game-high 11 rebounds to record her 12th career double-double, also her fourth of the season. Alexia Smith (12 pts, 8 ast) and Jillian Brown (10 pts, 4-7 FG) rounded out the list of double-digit scorers for the Hoos. Smith’s eight assists are a career best and she finished Thursday’s contest with zero turnovers.
Miami had 38 points in the paint after shooting just 13 percent from 3-point range. The Hurricanes were led by Kyla Oldacre, who scored a team-high 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Shayeann Day-Wilson (11 pts), who entered Thursday’s game as one of two players in ACC play to shoot above 40 percent from beyond the arc, finished just 1 for 6 from distance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Taylor had eight of the Cavaliers’ first 11 points. Smith buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put UVA up 22-15 after the first 10 minutes of play. Virginia shot 47 percent from the field in the opening quarter after knocking down four of their eight attempts from beyond the arc.
The Cavaliers extended their lead to as many as 14 points in the second quarter. UVA’s 46-32 advantage at the break marked its largest halftime lead of the season over an ACC opponent. Johnson was 3 for 6 from the field in the second and knocked down a pair of free throws before suffering an apparent lower-body injury with 12 seconds remaining in the half. She headed to the locker room early, but returned to action to start the third quarter. UVA shot 53 percent from the field and 58 percent from 3-point range in the first half. Taylor led all scorers at the break with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Johnson had 11 points.
After scoring the first four points of the third quarter, UVA grasped its largest lead of the game [50-32], but the Hurricanes capitalized on an 11-0 run later on to trim the Hoos’ advantage to seven [52-45]. Both teams shot 4 for 14 in quarter No. 3, but the Canes sunk seven shots at the line, while Virginia only managed two. The Cavaliers clung to a…