Virginia suffered a 57-48 loss at No. 21 Duke on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Cavaliers (3-13, 0-6 ACC) cut a once 18-point deficit to five points late in the fourth quarter, but could not complete the comeback.
Sophomore guard Kaydan Lawson led the Cavaliers with 10 points. Grad student center Eleah Parker had 10 rebounds.
Shayeann Day-Wilson led Duke (13-4, 4-3 ACC) with 13 points.
Duke started the game making five of its first seven field goal attempts, pulling out to a 10-3 lead. The Cavalier defense then clamped down, holding the Blue Devils scoreless for a 4:40 span, but went into the second quarter trailing 14-5. In the second quarter, seven points from grad student guard McKenna Dale helped the Cavaliers narrow the gap to 23-17 with 2:27 remaining in the half, but Duke closed out the period on an 11-1 run, with a three-pointer from Jiselle Havas with 1.2 seconds left on the clock putting Duke ahead 34-18 at the break.
Junior guard Taylor Valladay scored the first points of the third quarter for either teams 3:46 into the frame. Lawson followed with another jumper, making the score 34-22 with 5:40 left in the period. The Blue Devils halted their scoring drought with a three-pointer from Nyah Green at the 5:04 mark. The Blue Devils went into the fourth quarter with a 46-29 lead.
The Cavaliers rallied in the fourth. Lawson, junior guard Carole Miller and junior forward London Clarkson each hit a jumper to start the quarter on a 6-2 run. The Cavaliers got six-straight points on another jumper from Lawson and back-to-back scores from grad student guard Amandine Toi to cut the gap to single digits, 50-41, with 5:45 remaining. A Valladay layup followed by another score from Lawson cut the gap to five, 50-45, with 2:33 remaining.
Duke made just its third basket of the quarter, a jumper from Day-Wilson with 46.2 seconds left in the game to halt the Cavalier run. Duke went 5-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 25 seconds of the game while the Cavaliers missed their final four shots of the game.
Postgame: UVA coach Tina Thompson
“I am a little disappointed in our first quarter. You know, we just didn’t start strong. It’s almost like we weren’t ready to play. In this league, it’s very competitive, and it’s really difficult to dig yourself out of holes especially that deep against a talented team. So the first quarter definitely did us in.”
“We’re kind of trending with almost comebacks, and that’s definitely not the team that we want to be. We’re having lapses in quarters and we’re digging ourselves a hole. Again, the ACC is a competitive conference. There’s not one gimme game. You have to show up ready to play each contest. So we have to do a better job of knowing when things are not going our way, reacting a lot quicker and not letting them spiral out of control.”
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