Virginia Overpowers La Salle 94-73 in First True Road Game
Virginia women's basketball (6-2) played its first true road game of the season and passed that test with flying colors, gradually overwhelming and overpowering La Salle (3-4) 94-73 on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
La Salle struck first on a three-pointer from Molly Masciantonio, but Virginia responded by scoring the next six points and going on a 17-2 run that included eight points from Paris Clark. The Explorers fought back, knocking down three triples in the opening period, but a pair of free throws from Taylor Lauterbach gave Virginia a 25-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. UVA shot 60% from the floor and eight different Cavaliers scored in the opening quarter.
Tiara Bolden hit threes on back-to-back possessions to get La Salle back within six points, but the freshman sensation Kymora Johnson began to assert herself, scoring six straight points for the Cavaliers. London Clarkson also scored six points in the quarter and a couple of free throws from Johnson gave Virginia a 45-33 lead at halftime.
UVA cooled off and shot just 34.8% from the floor and 0/6 from beyond the arc in the second quarter, but the contributions from Johnson and Clarkson allowed the Cavaliers to win the quarter and push their lead to 12 points. Johnson had 12 points in the first half and Paris Clark and London Clarkson had eight apiece. Virginia outscored La Salle 26-14 in the paint, won the rebounding battle 24-17, and scored 12 points off of turnovers in the first half.
La Salle threatened to get back into the game with a run that cut the deficit down to single digits, including another three-pointer from Tiara Bolden. But the UVA defense responded aggressively, forcing several turnovers that led directly to transition points on the other end. Virginia strung together an 11-0 run to finally gain some separation and led by 20 points, 73-53, after three quarters.
UVA shot 56.3% from the field in the third quarter. LaSalle shot even better at 66.3%, but the Explorers also turned the ball over nine times in the period and sent the Cavaliers to the free throw line nine times, where they converted eight times.
Virginia had the game well in hand entering the final frame and put it in cruise control. La Salle got back within 15 points, but the Cavaliers answered with one final run, scoring 11 straight points to put the finishing touches on the 94-73 victory.
Kymora Johnson led the way for UVA with 17 points on a perfect 6/6 shooting to go along with four assists and three steals. Paris Clark and Jillian Brown scored 12 points apiece and Brown also had four steals. London Clarkson tallied 11 points and Camryn Taylor and Sam Brunelle had 10 points each.
For the game, Virginia shot 45.8% from the floor, but did not shoot well from three, knocking down just five of 21 three-point attempts (23.8%). UVA won the rebounding battle 48-34 and got 45 points from its bench.
Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of Virginia's win here.
Now 6-2 on the season, Virginia returns home to face Rider on Wednesday at 7pm at John Paul Jones Arena on ACC Network Extra.
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