UVA Women's Basketball Suffers 79-69 Loss at Clemson

The Cavaliers got within four points in the fourth quarter, but ultimately didn't have enough in the tank to complete the comeback

Virginia Athletics

To say the UVA women's basketball team has been shorthanded this season is significant understatement. The Cavaliers have only had eight active players for the past several games. On Thursday night at Clemson, Virginia only had seven players for the majority of the contest after London Clarkson was ejected from the game. 

Despite this lack of depth, the Cavaliers rallied in the fourth quarter and got themselves in position to win the game, but Virginia ran out of gas late in the game and Clemson executed down the stretch to earn a 79-69 win over UVA. 

The two teams started off firing from downtown, with Clemson’s Brie Perpignan and Virginia’s Taylor Valladay draining three-pointers. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the first quarter, with neither team leading by more than five points. 

Cady Pauley hit a three-pointer with less than a minute to go for the Cavaliers. With Clemson playing zone defense, UVA went 2/9 (22%) from beyond the arc. After ten minutes, Virginia trailed 16-12.

The second quarter started with back-to-back triples as well, with Cady Pauley making her second straight three, and then Clemson’s Amari Robinson responding with one of her own. With seven minutes left in the second quarter, London Clarkson got tangled up on a rebound with Eno Inyang. In the aftermath of locking arms, Clarkson took a swing at Inyang, just barely missing the punch. The officials reviewed the play and called a double foul and also a technical foul on Clarkson, ejecting her from the game.

Clemson led 26-16 after the technical foul, but the seven-player Cavaliers wouldn’t give up that easily. Camryn Taylor made a layup, Yonta Vaughn made a jumper, and Kaydan Lawson made a three pointer to trail 28-23.McKenna Dale carried her team with five points at the end of the second quarter to maintain the five-point deficit. At halftime, Clemson led 35-30.

Taylor Valladay was just 2/7 from the floor and had three turnovers. As the catalyst of the team, she would need to come alive in the second half. Virginia was 5/18 (28%) from beyond the arc, but the deep shots and Clemson’s zone allowed the Cavaliers to pick up 11 offensive rebounds and extend possessions.

In the third quarter, scoring was slow at first, and Clemson led 43-34 at one point. However, Taylor Valladay, Camryn Taylor, and Cady Pauley made baskets to cut the score to 46-41.

Unlike earlier in the season, Cady Pauley got a lot of opportunities to play in this game. After not playing in six games and only averaging nine minutes a game, Pauley played 18 minutes in this contest and scored a career-high 12 points on 4/12 from three.

Clemson reached its largest lead of the game at the end of the third quarter with the help of a 10-2 run. Daisha Bradford had ten points in the third quarter alone to pace Clemson, who took 56-43 lead into the fourth quarter. 

With eight minutes left, Clemson led by 14 points, but the Cavaliers had one final burst of energy in them that came as an 11-2 run, so UVA trailed 63-58 with five and a half minutes to go. Clemson scored a few points, but then a 4-0 run from Virginia made it 68-62.

The fourth quarter was fast-paced and chaotic, and the Cavaliers were clearly exhausted after fighting from behind all game with such a small lineup. However, they continued to play their hearts out, with Yonta Vaughn and McKenna Dale making three-pointers and Taylor Valladay driving to the hoop for a layup, that narrowed the deficit to just 73-69 with two minutes left. 

The Cavaliers missed a few shots down the stretch that could have given them a chance. Meanwhile, Clemson went 6/6 from the free throw line in crunch time to seal the deal. Clemson won 79-69 in the end, after a hard-fought Cavalier comeback that ultimately fell short.

Camryn Taylor had 15 points and nine rebounds and McKenna Dale had 12 points for UVA, despite both struggling with foul trouble all game. In addition to Cady Pauley’s 12 points, Taylor Valladay had 11 points and four assists. Amari Robinson led the Tigers with 18 points, and Brie Perpignan and Eno Inyang had 14 apiece.

Virginia’s final regular season game will be on Sunday afternoon on the road against the Miami Hurricanes. The Cavaliers will then head into the ACC Tournament in Greensboro next week. 

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