The Virginia women’s basketball team just completed a three-day, three-game road trip at the 2010 Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cavaliers played three ranked opponents in No. 17 Iowa State, No. 10 West Virginia, and No. 22 TCU. The Cavaliers fell 66-48 to Iowa State and 57-43 to West Virginia, but wrapped up the trip with a 59-55 win over TCU. Virginia’s record improved to 4-3 with today’s win.
The first game, against the Cyclones, was hardly how Virginia wanted to kick off the event. Virginia found itself down early in the game, 30-15, a lead that was extended to 40-19 by halftime. Iowa State opened the second half with a 15-2 run that simply left Virginia unable to come back.
The Cavaliers had a stronger showing on Friday against the tenth-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. Virginia was only down by one at the half, before the Mountaineers used a 9-0 run to open the half and the lead. The Cavaliers would climb back within 5, but eventually, 29 turnovers were in large part responsible for the loss.
But Virginia ended the trip on a high note this afternoon, using junior forward Chelsea Shine’s 20 points en route to the upset victory. Locked up at 24 at halftime and again at 46 with just 5:43 to go in the game, it would be a back-and-forth battle in the final moments of the contest.
The Cavaliers shot 40.7% from the field and 90.9% from the charity stripe.
Virginia returns to action on December 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at No. 7 Ohio State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.