UVA Women's Basketball Falls at No. 7 Notre Dame 76-54

Points were hard to come by for the Virginia women's basketball team on Sunday, as the Cavaliers shot less than 30% from the floor in a 76-54 loss to No. 7 Notre Dame in South Bend.

In the first nine minutes of the game, Virginia made just one shot on a jumper from Alexia Smith. That field goal drought lasted until the final minute of the quarter, allowing Notre Dame to build an overwhelming 18-4 advantage behind six first-quarter points from KK Bransford. The Cavaliers ended the period on a 5-0 run as Camryn Taylor hit a mid-range jumper and freshman Cady Pauley knocked down a deep three-pointer to make it 18-9 in favor of the Fighting Irish after one.

Virginia had a little more success on the offensive end in the second quarter thanks to London Clarkson making both of her field goal attempts and adding three boards in the quarter, but the Cavaliers still struggled to contain Notre Dame's offense.

With former Notre Dame transfer Sam Brunelle suspended for the game as a result of her flagrant 2 foul for "fighting" in UVA's loss to Florida State on Thursday, Virginia's size disadvantage became even more glaring as the Cavaliers were limited to just Camryn Taylor and London Clarkson in the front court. As UVA tried to pack the lane defensively, that allowed the Fighting Irish to get consistent open looks from beyond the arc. Sonia Citron hit a pair of three-pointers in the period and scored eight second-quarter points to help Notre Dame build a 35-23 lead at halftime.

Although the Cavaliers did well to hang around in the first half, the Fighting Irish started to run away with the game in the third quarter. Notre Dame abused its size advantage down low to the tune of a 28-14 edge in points in the paint. UVA's attempts to score at the rim were hampered by Notre Dame's size as well, as the Irish had eight blocks in the game, led by Cassandre Prosper with three blocks. Notre Dame shot 50% from the floor and made three of its four three-point attempts in the third to outscore UVA 29-19 in the period and take a 64-42 lead into the fourth.

Notre Dame put it in cruise control after that, keeping UVA at arm's length for a 76-54 victory. The Irish were led by Sonia Citron with 20 points, including six threes, and Lauren Ebo (15 points), Olivia Miles (12 points), and KK Bransford (10 points) also reached double figures. Virginia had just one player score in double digits as Camryn Taylor notched 13 points despite playing just 23 minutes before fouling out of the game. Taylor also scored her 1,000th career point in the contest. UVA's other forward London Clarkson also fouled out with eight points. Virginia made just 19 shots in the game and only three of its 15 three-point attempts, sorely missing Sam Brunelle and her 40.7% three-point shooting and 11.4 points per game scoring.

Virginia (14-6, 3-6 ACC) has lost five of its last six games, with four of those losses coming against ranked opponents. The Cavaliers will look to get back in the win column when they play at Syracuse on Thursday at 7pm.

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