Virginia's Rally Comes Up Short in 56-52 Loss to No. 9 Duke on Senior Day
Nearly two months ago, a 13-0 Virginia women's basketball team faced off against Duke in Durham with a full roster, and the Blue Devils handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season in a 70-56 defeat. Coming into the rematch in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers held a 4-11 ACC record and only had eight available players, while No. 9 Duke came into the game tied for first in the ACC standings at 13-3 while averaging 24 bench points per game.
The Blue Devils had the upper hand and at times, it looked like they would run away with an easy win as they led by as many as 13 points. But, fueled by the support of a big and energetic crowd at John Paul Jones Arena, the Cavaliers fought back and got to within two points in the fourth quarter. In the end, Virginia's rally came up just short as UVA fell to Duke 56-52 in a hard-fought battle.
Virginia honored graduate McKenna Dale before the game in a Senior Day ceremony and Dale was fittingly the one to open the scoring for the Cavaliers with a three-pointer. After dropping 22 points in UVA's upset win over NC State last week, Taylor Valladay continued her hot streak with a couple of early baskets. Kaydan Lawson added a three of her own off of a Duke turnover, but the Cavaliers trailed 11-10 at the first TV timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Virginia had turnovers on four straight possessions, allowing Duke to take a 17-10 lead. However, Camryn Taylor got two offensive rebounds and got the putback on the next offensive possession, and Yonta Vaughn drained a three pointer, so Virginia trailed 19-15 after the first quarter.
The Blue Devils had a four minute scoring drought in the second quarter which allowed the Cavaliers to pull within one point and trail 22-21 with five and a half minutes to play. Duke picked up the pace after that, and took a 33-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Taylor Valladay had eight second-quarter points to keep her team moving. She was 3/6 from the field while the rest of the Cavaliers were 2/7. The two teams combined for 17 first half turnovers (Virginia with nine and Duke with eight) as a result of tight defense and some sloppy offensive plays.
In the third quarter, Duke made three triples to take a 42-29 lead and force Virginia to call a timeout. It would have been easy for the Hoos to roll over after that, but Virginia responded with a 10-0 run with the help of three free throws from McKenna Dale, two jumpers from Camryn Taylor, and a deep three from Kaydan Lawson. The crowd at John Paul Jones really got into it, trying to guide the short-handed Hoos to the comeback.
Duke went four minutes without scoring and had four turnovers in that span, but got a layup to fall with just under a minute to end the UVA run. After three periods, Duke led 44-39. Camryn Taylor and Alexia Smith got to the line early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to two, at 47-45.
After three minutes without either team scoring, McKenna Dale finished on a fast break layup to make it 50-47, causing Duke to call a timeout and getting the season-high 6,378 fans excited, as they had been all game. This was the largest home crowd since 2018, and the largest crowd for an ACC game since 2008, a testament to the turnaround that Coach Mox has brought to the program.
Showing why they are the No. 9 team in the nation, Duke responded to the pressure and the loud hostile environment as Kennedy Brown and Shayeann Day-Wilson had two clutch baskets to put Duke up by seven points, taking advantage of a three-minute scoring drought by Virginia.
Taylor Valladay checked back into the game after being shaken up by a collision and promptly scored for Virginia, but then the offense couldn’t get another clutch shot. Duke’s Celeste Taylor went 1/2 from the line, giving her team a 55-49 with 23 seconds remaining.
While the Hoos managed to get three more points from Taylor Valladay down the stretch as well as a five second violation on the Blue Devils, Virginia ran out of time to mount a comeback. In the end, Duke won 56-52.
Taylor Valladay had another standout performance with 19 points on 8/13 from the field. As the lone graduating senior for the Cavaliers, McKenna Dale had a strong showing with ten points and five rebounds on her Senior Day.
For Duke, Elizabeth Balogun had 12 points, Taya Corosdale had 10 points, and Celeste Taylor had eight points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists.
Virginia won the turnover battle with 15 turnovers compared to Duke’s 18 and had 22 points off of turnovers as compared to Duke's 17. UVA was 10/11 from the line, while Duke was 2/9. However, Duke was 23/52 (44%) from the field and 8/18 (44%) from beyond the arc, and this efficiency from the field helped them overcome the sloppy play.
Now 15-12 and 4-12 in ACC play, Virginia wraps up the regular season with games at Clemson on Thursday night and at Miami on Sunday.
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