Coach Mox picks up 100th career win as UVA finishes strong for 73-66 victory at BC

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia outscored Boston College by seven points in the fourth quarter to claim its second ACC road win of the season, 73-66, at Conte Forum Thursday night. The Cavaliers trailed by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, but fought their way back in a game that saw 11 lead changes and seven ties.

In her first game back since Jan. 18 due to injury, Yonta Vaughn came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Edessa Noyan (13 points, 6 for 8 FG, 9 rebounds) also scored a career best. Paris Clark (14 points, 6 for 11 FG), Kymora Johnson (10 points) and Sam Brunelle (10 points, 8 rebounds) rounded out the list of UVA’s five double-digit scorers.

Virginia (11-12, 3-9 ACC) shot 49 percent from the field, its third-best shooting performance of the season overall and second-best in ACC play. The Cavaliers also knocked down 15 of their 16 attempts at the line.

The win marked Amaka Agugua-Hamilton’s 100th career victory, including her 26th as UVA head coach.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Eagles (11-14, 3-9) orchestrated a 14-2 run in the middle of the first to grasp an 18-8 lead at the 3:15 mark. Virginia closed out the quarter by scoring eight unanswered to trail by only two, 18-16, at the end of one. Clark scored eight of her 14 total points in the opening period on 4-of-5 shooting. Both teams committed seven turnovers each in the first 10 minutes of play.

In her first game back since Jan. 18, Vaughn came off the bench and tallied 10 points in the second quarter, which featured six lead changes. Olivia McGhee chipped in another six points. However, turnovers continued to plague the Cavaliers as they committed another seven giveaways in the second. BC scored nine points off UVA turnovers while the Cavaliers had none. Vaughn’s second 3 of the day made it a 35-34 BC advantage, but Virginia was whistled for a foul with under two seconds to play and knocked down a pair of free throws just before the end of the first half to lead it, 37-34.

After Brunelle knocked down UVA’s first bucket of the second half, a 3-pointer, the Eagles scored four straight to go up by six, 43-37. BC’s six point lead with 7:49 to go in the period marked its largest lead for the remainder of the game. The Cavaliers chipped away and a pair of free throws by Kymora Johnson with 0.3 second remaining in the quarter tied the score 54-54 heading into the fourth. Noyan scored seven of her 13 total points in the third, including a critical and-1 finish midway through.

A combined nine straight points from Brunelle and Johnson in the middle of the fourth proved to be the difference in the game as UVA led 65-58, its then-largest lead of the game. BC trimmed the Cavaliers’ lead to as little as three [69-66] with 33 seconds remaining. After that, the Eagles opted to foul, but Johnson and Brunelle were perfect at the line to help seal the win.

FROM AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON

“I saw some poise. They punched at times. We punched back. When they punched again, we didn’t fold and we didn’t crumble. We just stayed together and were poised and played together. That’s something that we’ve been working on, because sometimes when people punch, we go as individuals and everybody wants to do it themselves. But we stayed together. We chipped away. We had some really great performances… People just stepped up. They played out of positions, but we wanted it.”

WITH THE WIN…

• Amaka Agugua-Hamilton tallied her 100th career win as head coach, including 26th win at UVA.
• Virginia earned its second win in its last four games.
• The Cavaliers snapped a two-game losing skid and collected its second ACC road win of the season.
• UVA improved to 21-6 in the all-time series, which began in 1983, and 7-4 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• In her first game back since Jan. 18, Yonta Vaughn scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She scored 10 of her 18 points in quarter No. 2.
• For the second time in the last three games, Edessa Noyan scored a career high … she finished with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
• After being outrebounded by an average 13.5 rebounds in its last two games, the Cavaliers won the rebounding margin, 41-33.
• Virginia had a season-high 24 turnovers.
• The last time UVA had five players score in double figures was in its road win over then-No. 17 Florida State (Jan. 21).
• Virginia shot 49 percent from the field, its third-best shooting performance of the season overall and second-best in ACC play.
• UVA shot 88 percent (15-17) at the charity stripe.

UP NEXT

Virginia rounds out its two-game road stint at Wake Forest on Sunday. Tipoff from LJVM Coliseum is set for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.