Virginia Drops Sunshine Classic Opener Against Alabama

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Posted on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, 8:54 pm

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virginia women's basketballCourtesy UVA Sports Media Relations

The Virginia women’s basketball team suffered a 64-52 loss against Alabama on Thursday in the opening game of the World Class Basketball Florida Sunshine Classic Tournament, which is being held at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Junior guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the team in scoring with 12 points, one of three Cavaliers to finish the game in double figures. Junior forward Lisa Jablonowski (Ernster, Luxembourg) led the defensive efforts with 10 rebounds while also blocking three shots.

Jordan Lewis led Alabama (8-4) with 25 points and her teammate Jasmine Walker scored 18 points with 12 rebounds.

Virginia (4-7) shot 28.8 percent (19-of-66) while the Crimson Tide made 34.3 percent of their field goal attempts (23-of-67). Both teams grabbed 47 rebounds.

Both squads got off to a slow start, starting the game a combined 2-of-15 shooting, but Alabama found its rhythm by the end of the opening period, jumping out to a 17-9 lead and taking a 36-26 lead into halftime. Virginia started the second half hot, cutting a once-13-point deficit down to six points with 7:10 remaining in the third period.

The two teams traded baskets through much of the period with UVA still trailing by six with three minutes remaining in the quarter, but Alabama closed on an 8-3 run to take a 10-point advantage into the final period. The Crimson Tide scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up 58-42. Virginia scored six-straight points midway through the period, but could not further cut into the deficit, trailing by double-digits for the remainder of the game.

Virginia closes out the tournament by taking on South Florida (9-2, 0-0 AAC) on Friday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m. and then concludes its non-conference slate by hosting Charlotte on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.