On Emotional Day, W Basketball Upsets Maryland

Saturday, January 31 2009 by Tim

On Friday morning #19 UVA Women’s Basketball head coach Debbie Ryan, #8 Maryland Women’s Basketball head coach Brenda Freese and Maryland Athletics Director Debbie Yow joined a cast of familiar faces in Cary, N.C. Under other circumstances, this would have been an impressive congregation of basketball powers. #13 Tennessee Women’s Basketball head coach Pat Summitt was there. #16 Texas Women’s Basketball head coach Gail Goestenkors (who was also #3 Duke’s former head coach) was in attendance too. Geno Auriemma, #1 UConn’s Women’s Basketball head coach and former U.Va. assistant made the trip down. Some non-basketball folks were there as well – former N.C. State Football head coach Chuck Amato and his wife were in attendance.

But it was a somber day, not a celebration. The occasion was the funeral of Kay Yow, the Women’s Basketball head coach at N.C. State for the last thirty-four years. She died last Saturday, succumbing to her long battle with breast cancer.

To add to the stress and the emotion of the day, both Ryan and Freese had to leave the services early to return to Charlottesville. Their ladies were competing in a match-up of top-25 teams at the John Paul Jones Arena yesterday at 7pm.

The game would prove to be no less stressful.

The Maryland Terrapins, fresh off a victory over then #3 North Carolina (who, incidentally, had crushed Virginia by 29 points just a week earlier), came out strong. Virginia held on for a while, but Maryland proved to be too much in the first half, jumping out to a 10 point lead that was cut to 8 by a buzzer-beater layup from Aisha Mohammed. Down 39-31 at the half, the evening was looking like it might continue the stress and emotional drain for Debbie Ryan that the morning had begun.

But the second half was something altogether different. Virginia out-scored the Terrapins 58-42 in the second half, riding the strong performances of Lyndra Littles (30 points), Monica Wright (28 points, 7 rebounds) and Aishma Mohammed (19 points, 16 rebounds). Wright had 23 of her 28 points in the second half, while Mohammed tallied her 8th double-double in 17 games this season. The Cavaliers shot 54% from the floor in the second half compared to only 40% from Maryland. Maryland’s leading scorer, Kristi Toliver managed 17 points for the game but was rendered largely ineffective down the stretch as she and the Terrapins tried to mount a come-back.

As the buzzer sounded the end of the game, the fans In the stands made no effort to hide their emotion – excitement at the Cavalier’s first win over Maryland in three years. In the post-game press conference, Coach Ryan did make an effort to conceal her emotion, but it didn’t work too well.

An emotional day. An emotional Victory.

Notes:

  • With her 30 points against Maryland, Lyndra Littles moved herself into 7th place on the Cavaliers’ all-time scoring list, ahead of Tonya Cardoza and Donna Holt. She needs 120 points by the end of the season to move into the top 5. Given her current pace this season (21.3ppg) and the number of games left (minimum of 11) I would say she stands a very good chance of doing at least that.
  • Monica Wright increased her lead as the ACC’s leading scorer, averaging 22.3ppg. Lyndra Littles is second behind her at 21.3ppg, but the Cavaliers will have to go deep into both the ACC and NCAA tournaments for her tally to count. The ACC does not count a player’s statistics unless they have played in 75% of their team’s games. She has currently played in only 12 of the Cavaliers’ 21 games.
  • Mohammed also increased her lead – as the ACC’s leading rebounder. She averages 9.6 rebounds per game, leaving her just shy over averaging a double-double (she also averages 13.5ppg). She’s the ACC’s leading offensive rebounder with 4.1 per game and is in the top five in defensive rebounding with 5.5 per game.
  • For the second time in a week, senior Kristen London entered the game from the bench and contributed a few quality minutes. She tallied 1 steal, 1 assist, 2 rebounds and 5 points, including a key three-pointer, in 16 minutes of action. She’s becoming a great role player for the Cavaliers as the season progresses.

Virginia returns to action on Sunday against in-state foe Longwood at 2pm. They continue their home-stand against Duke on Thursday (7pm) and Virginia Tech on Sunday (2pm).