UVa Women’s Basketball Team Drops Opener Friday After Tough Battle With Mississippi State
Posted on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, 7:21 pm
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Virginia’s Brianna Tinsley advances the ball against tight defense by MSU’s Jazzmun Holmes.
By Kipperly Tidball
The University of Virginia Women’s basketball team faced tough opposition as they opened Friday night against sixth-ranked Mississippi State. The Cavaliers lost, 72-44, to the Bulldogs, the national runner-up team during the past two years.
The Cavaliers began with an unexpected deficit to their already short roster. New head coach Tina Thompson announced approximately one hour before tip-off that redshirt freshman Ammadine Toi would be unable to play for the entire 2018-19 season due to an injured right knee which she had sustained during practice.
The guard from France also missed all of last season’s play due to an injury to her left knee.
The matchup between the two teams began with a particularly difficult half with an 11-0 run by MSU. By halftime, the score was 45-17, with the Bulldogs scoring more than half of those points off of 17 forced turnovers.
Virginia fought back harder in the second half, beginning with a very nice layup from junior forward Jocelyn Willoughby and a great drive to the paint by Dominique Toussaint, which resulted in a 3-point play. The two teams each scored only 17 points in the second half, with UVa outscoring the Bulldogs 18-10 in the third period.
Toussaint scored a career-high 19 points. Impressive 3-point shots were made by Toussaint as well as by sophomore guards Brianna Tinsley and Khyasia Caldwell. Junior center Felicia Aiyeotan, at 6-foot-9, captured 16 total rebounds and four blocked shots.
But that wasn’t nearly enough. MSU 6-7 senior center Teaira McCowan earned her 41st double-double for the Bulldogs, with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Australian sophomore Chloe Libby earned 13 points, though all were scored in the first half.
Also scoring in double figures was sophomore guard Andra Espinoza-Hunter who, only two days before, was granted an eligibility waiver from the NCAA after a transfer from Connecticut.
In the end, MSU converted an overall 29 of 66 shots (43.9 percent) from the field compared to Virginia’s 16 of 61 (26.2 percent).
Coach Thompson said she was not discouraged.
“I will say I’m very encouraged by our second half. We learned a lot about ourselves. We were executing and doing the things that we’ve coached and preached up to this point in the season,” she said. “In the first half, I think our nerves got the best of us just a little bit.”
Thompson shared what she told her team at halftime.
“I just told them to be themselves,” said Thompson. “Just be yourself. Some of the things happening in the first half was [the Bulldogs’] pressure, because that’s what they do. They overplay. They want to put you in a position of discomfort, take you away from the basket, and kind of rush you. But you’re only rushed if you decide to rush.
“I just told them to be calm. We can get to the things we want to do if we execute, if we hold onto the ball, if we do the things that are well within our skill set.”
Toussaint agreed.
“I think it was just a lack of execution. We knew what we had to do. We practiced it in practice,” she said. “I think our exhaustion and lapses in judgement caused those turnovers. They were unforced turnovers, so I think that’s just on us.”
Coach Thompson said she was excited by the larger crowd at John Paul Jones Arena.
She shared, “I appreciate Charlottesville showing up for our kids. They’re working really hard and we are building something. We are under some renovations a little bit, but we are building. Them coming out to the crowd and then [the crowd] encouraging and staying even at a time when it was ugly, it makes them feel good. It changes how they approach when they know that our fans are standing with us in moments where we have to score in a drought.
“So, I hope they do continue to come out and support them because it is going to get greater later. It is going to take a little time, but we are going to get better. Great first game. We didn’t show up the way we wanted to in the first half, but we ended in a way that we can build from and I appreciate that.”
