Virginia Loses Hard-Fought Battle at No. 20 North Carolina 81-68

The Cavaliers gave the Tar Heels all they could handle until late in the fourth, but faltered late and fell to 0-5 in ACC play

Facing a ranked team on the road for the second game in a row, the Cavaliers nearly secured their first ACC win of the season as they gave the Tar Heels all they could handle until midway through the fourth quarter. 

But that first conference victory once again eluded the Virginia women's basketball team (8-8, 0-5 ACC), who faltered down the stretch and fell to No. 20 North Carolina (12-5, 4-1 ACC) 81-68 on Sunday evening in Chapel Hill. 

Similar to the start of the NC State game, Coach Mox was forced to burn an early timeout after North Carolina raced out to a 9-2 lead just three minutes into the contest. The ultra-reliable Camryn Taylor willed the Cavaliers back into the game, though, scoring each of Virginia's first nine points, including a corner three, to narrow the deficit to 12-9. 

But for as reliable as Taylor has been when she's on the floor, her penchant for getting into foul trouble showed itself again as Taylor picked up her second personal with two minutes left in the first quarter and remained on the bench for the rest of the first half. With Taylor on the bench, UNC closed the first quarter strong and led 19-12 after one. 

North Carolina built a lead as large as 14 early in the second quarter, but Virginia managed to work the deficit back within single digits. With Taylor out of the game, London Clarkson gave the Cavaliers a massive lift, scoring six points in the second quarter. UVA held UNC scoreless for the final three minutes of the half and ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to make it 37-32 at halftime. 

North Carolina pushed its lead back to 10 points thanks to nine third-quarter points from Deja Kelly, but the Cavaliers had another rally in the tank. Kymora Johnson made her first shot of the game, a three-pointer from the left wing. Taylor also knocked down her second three of the game and scored seven points in the period, staying on the floor despite picking up another personal foul. The freshman tandem of Kymora Johnson and Olivia McGhee each scored five points in the third, helping the Cavaliers to tie the game at 52. UNC made a free throw in the final moments of the period to take a 53-52 lead to the fourth quarter. 

North Carolina opened the fourth quarter with five quick points, but McGhee answered with a three-pointer. A few minutes later, it was another three from Kymora Johnson that had the Cavaliers back in business, trailing by just four points at 65-61 with less than five minutes to go. 

But Virginia ran out of gas after that, failing to score for the next three and a half minutes and not hitting a single field goal for the rest of the game. By the time the Cavaliers scored again, the Tar Heels had gone on an 8-0 run to replenish their lead to 12, all but salting away their win. 

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

Deja Kelly led UNC with 27 points, including four threes, to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Alyssa Ustby added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who shot 45.2% from the floor, 41.2% from three, and won the rebounding battle 44-39. 

That the Cavaliers were able to stay in the game as long as they did was largely a product of their three-point shooting, as UVA knocked down eight threes at a 42.1% clip, much improved from the team's 26.4% season-long three-point average. Virginia got 16 points and seven rebounds from Camryn Taylor and double-digit scoring efforts from Kymora Johnson (13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Olivia McGhee (12 points, 4 rebounds), and London Clarkson (10 points, 7 rebounds), but it wasn't enough to get into the win column in ACC play for the first time this season. 

Up next, Virginia returns home to host yet another ranked ACC foe, as No. 18 Notre Dame comes to John Paul Jones Arena on Thursday at 7pm. 

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