The Plus/Minus: UVA Women’s basketball falls late to Louisville 63 - 53

Plus

The result was a loss, but let’s face it, the Virginia Cavaliers are in moral victory territory (considering the seven game losing streak), and playing the Louisville Cardinals as tough as they did constitutes a moral victory. Virginia led after the first, second, and third quarters against a Louisville team that was the pre-season pick to finish atop the ACC.

Minus

The Cavaliers were officially short-handed again. Sam Brunelle is still out, and Carole Miller has stepped away from the team. Coach Agugua-Hamilton only came into the season with 11 players on the roster, so coupled with the loss of Mir McLean, that left only eight bodies at her disposal. Make that seven bodies since Coach Mox doesn’t truly trust Cady Pauley. Pauley got three minutes of playing time in the first half and had a rebound, a steal and a pair of deflected passes. With the team fading in the fourth, I would have thought she might have gotten a little more burn.

Minus

Foul trouble. Again. London Clarkson and Camryn Taylor both fouled out, and each picked up their fifth foul on the offensive end. Taylor’s was especially egregious: setting a screen for Yonta Vaughn, she stuck her knee out trying to make herself bigger. It would have been a bad foul if it were her second. But with Brunelle unavailable and Clarkson already fouled out, this was simply inexcusable.

Plus

I’ve made reference to poor officiating throughout the season, but the refs were quite good this game and were consistent throughout. Taylor and Clarkson still seem surprised with every foul call that goes against them — heck, most players never think they’ve ever fouled anyone — but the situation is dire. Coach Mox has to whistle more tightly in practice because I don’t think this team really understands what constitutes a foul.

Plus

It was a great start to the game as UVA jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Vaughn hit a three on Virginia’s first possession and a pair of fine steals leading to fast break buckets had the crowd jumping. The women were locked in and playing great defense. At the end of the first quarter, Louisville’s Hailey van Lith, the best player on the court, had just five points and as many turnovers.

Plus

Camryn Taylor has a beautiful mid-range game. I’d love to see her play a game of H.O.R.S.E. with Jayden Gardner. My money would be on Taylor. She had 12 points in the game’s first 15 minutes.

Minus

Neither team covered themselves in glory from deep. The ‘Hoos were 5-18 while the Cardinals shot 6-22. There were three airballs.

Minus

It goes without saying that the Cavaliers faded down the stretch, getting outscored 22-10 in the final frame. At halftime, the ‘Hoos had an 18-17 rebounding edge, but by the end of the game, the Cards had out-rebounded UVA 39-31. Rebounding is all about energy and effort, and we just didn’t have it going down the stretch.

Minus

Virginia really struggled with the Louisville defense as the Cards were able to push Virginia’s trio of guards almost to the logo. While the Louisville defense was good all game, in just the fourth quarter, Virginia had six of what I would consider to be poor, late-in-the-shot-clock shots. All were bad. All were cleaned up by the Cardinals.

Next Up: The going just gets tougher for the Cavaliers as they host NC State on Sunday, February 12th at noon. I will be at that game and it marks my first visit to the JPJ. I can’t wait. The game will be shown on the ACC Network.