Cavaliers Now

Women's Basketball Triumphs in First Game Since UVA's Heartbreaking Tragedy

The Cavaliers erased an eight-point deficit to beat the Ramblers 68-62 in the first UVA sporting event since Sunday night's shooting

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletics

It was a game Virginia had to win. 

Despite going down by as many eight points in the 3rd quarter and  shooting 0/10 from three, the Hoos refused to lose. 

After trailing for most of the game, Virginia women's basketball came from behind to defeat Loyola 68-62 on Wednesday night in Chicago, picking up a very meaningful road win in the first UVA sporting event since the tragic shooting at the University of Virginia on Sunday night. 

In honor of the three UVA football players who were killed in the shooting - Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry - the team wore patches with the jersey numbers of the three victims on the sleeves of their warm-up shirts. 

On the opening tip, Sam Brunelle collected the ball and fired a pass ahead to Kaydan Lawson, who finished the layup to give the Cavaliers a very quick start, taking a 2-0 lead just five seconds into the game. But, UVA couldn't capitalize on the strong start, not scoring another basket until more than four minutes later. Loyola took advantage of the Cavalier drought to take a 22-17 lead at the end of the first quarter behind seven points from Maya Chandler. Mir McLean and Kaydan Lawson had four points apiece in the opening quarter to keep things close. 

Chandler followed that up with another seven-point quarter to keep the Ramblers in front. Neither team shot particularly well in the second period, with Loyola barely outscoring Virginia 13-12 in the quarter and with just 11 combined field goals made between the two teams. Chandler hit the only three-pointer of the period as time expired to stretch Loyola's lead to 35-29 at halftime. 

Virginia tightened up its defense in the second half, holding Loyola to just 14 points in the 3rd period. Taylor Valladay scored 10 points in the quarter and UVA briefly took the lead, but Loyola went back in front with a layup from Kira Chivers and led 49-48 entering the 4th period. 

Chandler started the 4th quarter off with a layup, but Virginia responded with a pivotal 10-0 run to seize all momentum in the game and take over the lead for good. Mir McLean led the Cavaliers with six points in the fourth and Kaydan Lawson and Camryn Taylor chipped in five points each as part of a strong fourth quarter that saw UVA outscore Loyola 20-13. McLean paced Virginia in the game with 14 points on an efficient 7/9 shooting, while Taylor had 12 points and five rebounds and Valladay recorded 11 points and five assists. Alexia Smith contributed 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists. 

The Cavaliers missed every one of their ten three-point attempts, but they adjusted accordingly and began working their advantage on the interior. Virginia outscored Loyola 50-28 in the paint and that included 14 fast-break points. UVA won the rebounding battle 36-24 and collected 12 offensive rebounds to score 16 second chance points. 

In their first road game of the season, the Cavaliers faced some significant challenges and adversity, but showed impressive resolve and tenacity to come from behind and earn a win that the UVA community needed desperately. 

Now 4-0 on the season, Coach Mox's Virginia Cavaliers will look to continue their hot start in another road game at American in Washington, D.C. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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