Rally Falls Short for UVA Women's Basketball in 66-57 Loss to Auburn

Matt Newton | Dec 5, 2024

Virginia Athletics

Though they twice trailed by as many as 15 points, the Cavaliers stuck with it and eventually rallied to narrow the deficit to as little as three points in the fourth quarter.

But it wasn't enough.

The comeback fell just short as Virginia women's basketball (6-4) suffered a 66-57 loss to Auburn (6-3) in the second-annual ACC/SEC Challenge on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia ran out yet another new starting lineup, with Olivia McGhee earning her first start of the season and UNC transfer RyLee Grays starting for the first time in her college career. Paris Clark had a boot on her foot and missed the game after playing all three games in Puerto Rico and Edessa Noyan was also inactive for the sixth game in a row.

The game got off to a terrible start right away for the Cavaliers, who found themselves down 6-0 after 63 seconds and turned the ball over twice on their first two possessions, including a mind-boggling mistake inbounding the ball despite facing no pressure. To make matters worse, Virginia's already thin front court was made more vulnerable as Latasha Lattimore got in early foul trouble, picking up two personal fouls in the first five minutes of the game.

Turnovers continued to be a major issue for Virginia throughout the first quarter, as the Hoos turned the ball over eight times in the opening period alone. With UVA's front court depth in a bad place, the Tigers punished the Cavaliers inside, scoring 12 points in the paint en route to a 24-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Auburn opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at 15 points. That prompted Coach Mox to take her second timeout and UVA tightened the screws a bit after that, committing only two turnovers in the second quarter and holding Auburn scoreless for a five minute stretch. Virginia didn't fully cash in on that Auburn drought, though Yonta Vaughn made a nice mid-range jumper just before the buzzer to narrow the deficit to eight points at 37-29 at halftime.

Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.

UVA's guards led the way in the first half, as Kymora Johnson paced Virginia with nine points and Vaughn had eight points. The rest of the team had 10 points on 4/9 shooting by halftime. Auburn, on the other hand, was carried by its front court, as DeYona Gaston had 10 points, two rebounds, and two assists and Taylen Collins had 12 points and five rebounds. The Tigers outscored the Cavaliers 20-12 in the paint in the first half.

The third quarter was all DeYona Gaston. No, seriously. Gaston scored eight of the 17 total points scored between the two teams in the period. The Tigers missed all five of their threes in the third, but so did the Cavaliers. After picking up her fourth personal foul just over a minute into the second half, Latasha Lattimore checked back into the game late in the third quarter and scored twice to get the Cavaliers back within 11 points at 49-38 heading to the fourth. Virginia was 2/12 from the floor in the third quarter before those two buckets from Lattimore.

Lattimore continued to surged to start the fourth quarter, getting to the foul line and making four free throws. The Cavaliers implemented an effective full-court press, forcing a few Auburn turnovers and succeeding in getting the Tigers out of their rhythm offensively.

Kymora Johnson went on a personal 7-0 run, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play to get Virginia back within three points at 53-50 with four and a half minutes to go.

But that was the closest the Cavaliers ever got to tying things up. Audia Young responded with a big-time corner three for Auburn, sparking a 7-2 run. UVA again got within five points with two and a half minutes to go. But despite the Tigers continuously leaving the door open by shooting 8/16 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, but Hoos never could fully close the gap, failing to make a field goal in the last 3:44 of regulation as Auburn held on to win 66-57.

DeYona Gaston led all scorers with 23 points, while also adding six rebounds and three assists. Kymora Johnson recorded a 22-point, 13-rebound double-double and Latasha Lattimore had 10 points and five rebounds despite only playing 23 minutes due to foul trouble.

Virginia finished the game with 21 turnovers, but actually outscored Auburn in points off turnovers 22-21. UVA won the rebounding battle 39-29, but Auburn outscored UVA 32-28 in the paint. The Cavaliers shot 3/17 from beyond the arc.

Now 6-4 on the season, Virginia remains at home to take on Boston College in the ACC opener on Sunday at 2pm at John Paul Jones Arena. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

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