Camryn Taylor Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Camryn Taylor Drops 27, UVA Women's Basketball Falls at JMU 84-69

The Cavaliers returned to action for the first time in 331 days, but fell to the Dukes in Harrisonburg

Author:
Kathleen Boyce
Publish date:
Nov 10, 2021 10:52 AM EST

Camryn Taylor stole the show in her Virginia basketball debut, recording 27 points and seven rebounds. Despite the lift that the Marquette transfer gave them, the Cavaliers could not convert from the free throw line or behind the arc consistently enough and the UVA women’s basketball team fell to JMU 84-69 in the season opener in Harrisonburg on Tuesday night.

In the first quarter, JMU always led by a few points in a well-rounded offense where five different players scored. The scoring was similarly well-distributed for the Hoos, with Camryn Taylor leading the way with seven points in the quarter. Going into the second quarter, the Dukes led 22-17.

The Hoos were able to prevent the deficit from growing too much in the second quarter. A layup from Eleah Parker brought the score to 22-21 early in the quarter, and two free throws from Carole Miller made it 39-35 with the Hoos down four and one minute remaining.

JMU responded with a quick 5-0 burst, including a three pointer from Jamia Hazell with five seconds remaining that appeared to be the last basket of the half, but UVA’s Taylor Valladay had other ideas. She managed to bank in an amazing buzzer-beating shot from well beyond half court.

At halftime, the Hoos trailed 44-38.

In the third quarter, James Madison broke the game wide open, outscoring UVA 27-12, effectively running away with the contest. Camryn Taylor scored four points in the first two minutes of the third quarter to bring the Hoos within two, but then JMU responded with a 12-2 run to extend the lead to 58-46 and forcing a UVA timeout. Claire Neff hit two three pointers and made a layup, accounting for eight of the 12 points in the run.

JMU continued to pile on the offense and had 71 points headed into the fourth quarter, while the Hoos stalled at 50 points.

UVA bounced back and outscored JMU 19-13 in the fourth quarter, but the damage had already been done. Camryn Taylor went on a personal 9-0 run with two layups and five free throws to bring the score to 71-59. From there, the teams mostly traded baskets until the horn sounded with a final score of 84-69.

The Hoos managed to get to the free throw line 28 times, but only converted on 16 of them (57%), so they left a lot of points on the table. Similarly, they shot 1/15 from beyond the arc, with the only make being Valladay’s buzzer beater to end the first half. JMU only shot 72% from the line (21-29), but they also were 5/14 from three, with Claire Neff going 3/4 to pace her team.

Both teams turned the ball over at a high rate, with Virginia having 18 turnovers and JMU having 17. But, a key difference in the game was what the two teams did what those turnovers. UVA had only six points off of JMU turnovers, while JMU turned Virginia’s giveaways into 24 points.

Kiki Jefferson was a consistent force for James Madison, finishing with an impressive 31 points and 11 rebounds. She was 10/23 from the field and also made 10 free throws, allowing her to rack up the points in all four quarters. Jamia Hazell added 17 points and Claire Neff had 14.

For UVA, Camryn Taylor ended with 27 points on 10/15 shooting as the primary scoring option all game long. Carole Miller had 14 points and Eleah Parker had 12 points and nine rebounds to round out the offensive leaders.

UVA will have its home opener against Southern California on Sunday at 1 pm at John Paul Jones Arena.

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