BLACKSBURG — For the first time in five years, the Virginia women’s basketball team left Cassell Coliseum victorious.
Latasha Lattimore had 24 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Cavaliers to a 73-65 win over Virginia Tech on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers (11-7, 3-3 ACC) won at Cassell for the first time since a February 2020 game. Tech had won three straight meetings in Blacksburg since that game.
“It’s huge. It’s a rivalry game,” UVa coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said of the win. “It gets your juices flowing, your blood flowing.
“You want to be the one in your state that comes out on top, so I’m just really proud of our players. … Great fan base here and we were able to steal a win on the road.”
Virginia Tech (12-5, 3-3) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.
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“We were not handling their pressure,” said Matilda Ekh, who had 14 points for Tech. “We were taking shots that we maybe don’t want to take, and they were getting some easy transition (baskets).
“We’ve just got to get tougher and stop what they’re doing.”
The game was tied at 35 at halftime. But UVa opened the second half on a 9-0 run to grab a 44-35 lead with 7:18 left in the third quarter. UVa led the rest of the way. Tech turned the ball over twice in that run.
“We didn’t have enough fight during that stretch,” Tech coach Megan Duffy said of the third quarter. “They were a little bit tougher. They turned up their pressure. … We haven’t had too many third quarters where we got a little bit punched in those first few minutes.”
UVa outscored Tech 27-12 in the third.
“The third quarter was a real problem for us. We were being very sloppy with the ball,” Ekh said. “We were not doing what we were supposed to do on defense. We just couldn’t stop the bleeding once they started scoring. And we were struggling on offense.
“They got some easy buckets in the beginning of the third quarter, which gave them some confidence and we kind of lost some confidence. And that kind of gave them the momentum to pressure us. … We just couldn’t figure out how to handle the pressure.”
Eight of Tech’s 17 turnovers came in the third quarter.
“We picked up the pace defensively, pressured the ball more,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We’ve been playing a lot of zone (defense) lately and then they came out hot from the 3, so we made an adjustment … and we were playing more man (defense). And then we just pressured the ball and we were able to create some turnovers and get points off … their turnovers.”
“We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Duffy said. “We’ve talked about it all season.”
UVa shot a sizzling 66.7% from the field in the third quarter to Tech’s 30.8% and led 62-47 entering the fourth.
“We responded after halftime big-time,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We missed a lot of layups in the first half and we were able to correct that and finish at the rim, get to the free-throw line.”
Lattimore, a 6-foot-4 transfer from Miami, was 11 of 23 from the field.
“She showed up big for us, put the team on her back,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
“We didn’t do enough to stop her,” Ekh said. “We let her do the same thing over and over again.”
Lattimore was 4 of 13 from the field in the first half but 7 of 10 from the field in the second half. She was 5 of 6 from the field in the third quarter.
“I’m a very athletic (power forward),” she said. “My first step is very quick, so I can take a lot of people off the dribble very fast. I also used my speed to (my) advantage. … I noticed the speed level out there wasn’t as fast as I am.”
Point guard Kymora Johnson scored 16 points for UVa.
“The head of the monster is Kymora,” Duffy said. “She’s really good, her pace and the way she runs her team.”
Breona Hurd added 11 points for UVa.
UVa outrebounded Tech 41-31. UVa snared 14 offensive rebounds.
“We never gave up,” Lattimore said. “Even when they punched us back, we punched back and made sure that every rebound we went for, every steal we dove on the floor for.”
“(Lattimore) was relentless on her rebounding,” Duffy said. “She’s super long. … She just has a knack to get to the ball.”
UVa won for the third time in its past four games.
“We’re getting better,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
Rose Micheaux had 15 points and nine rebounds for Tech. Lani White had 12 points, while Carys Baker added 11. Carleigh Wenzel had seven points, half her season average.
UVa 73, Va. Tech 65
VIRGINIA (11-7)
Lattimore 11-23 1-1 24, Noyan 3-5 0-0 6, Clark 1-4 2-2 4, Johnson 6-15 1-2 16, McGhee 2-7 0-0 6, Grays 2-4 0-0 4, Hurd 4-8 3-4 11, Lauterbach 0-0 0-0 0, Dunbar 0-0 0-0 0, Valenti-Paea 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 29-66 9-11 73.
VIRGINIA TECH (12-5)
Baker 4-8 2-2 11, Micheaux 7-14 1-3 15, Ekh 5-12 2-2 14, Wenzel 2-7 2-5 7, White 4-7 2-2 12, Nelson 3-7 0-0 6, Petersen 0-0 0-0 0, Wells 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 9-14 65.
Virginia 21 14 27 11 — 73
Va. Tech 22 13 12 18 — 65
3-Point Goals—Virginia 6-18 (Lattimore 1-4, Johnson 3-7, McGhee 2-5, Hurd 0-2), Virginia Tech 6-20 (Baker 1-4, Ekh 2-5, Wenzel 1-5, White 2-3, Nelson 0-2, Wells 0-1). Assists—Virginia 14 (Clark 3, Johnson 3, Lattimore 3), Virginia Tech 14 (Nelson 4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Virginia 41 (Lattimore 15), Virginia Tech 31 (Micheaux 9). Total Fouls—Virginia 17, Virginia Tech 13. Technical Fouls—None. A—5,473.
