UVA Women's Basketball Falls to Louisville 68-65

Virginia women's basketball (11-10, 3-6 ACC) suffered a 68-65 loss to Louisville (14-6, 7-2 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. Here are our five takeaways from the game.

Another slow start

This game followed a similar pattern as Thursday's loss to Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers got off to an extremely slow start and built themselves a big hole, then surged in the fourth quarter to get back within striking distance, but ultimately came up short of completing the comeback. Let's stay with the slow start for now, though, as this has been a common factor in many of UVA's losses this season, and particularly in the last two games. Powered by 14 quick points from Jayda Curry, Louisville outscored Virginia 25-12 in the first quarter and the Cavaliers had nearly as many turnovers (5) as they did made field goals (6) in the opening period. UVA competed well with Louisville over the rest of the game and essentially dominated the fourth quarter, but the resulting hole from another poor first quarter was too much to overcome.

Virginia surges in the fourth quarter to make it a game

Things were pretty even between these two teams in the second and third quarters, but the Cardinals held a commanding 62-45 lead entering the fourth quarter, their largest lead of the game. Virginia implemented a full-court press and succeeded in getting Louisville out of rhythm offensively. The Cardinals shot well above 40% from the floor in each of the first three quarters, then went just 2/15 in the final period and turned the ball over five times. Latasha Lattimore got hot, scoring eight points, and the entire UVA offense came to life early in the fourth. A mid-range jumper from Kymora Johnson made it just a three-point game with three minutes to go in regulation, but...

Late-game execution allows the game to slip away

... that was the final shot Virginia made in the game as that three-point spread at 68-65 held as the final score. Similar to the Georgia Tech game and the NC State and Duke games before that, the Cavaliers made a few critical mistakes in the waning minutes that allowed the game to slip through their fingers. Louisville got multiple offensive rebounds that led to a 60-second possession, then Johnson had her pass sail over the hands of Edessa Noyan for a turnover, and then Louisville got another offensive rebound to extend its next possession. UVA held again and got another chance to tie, but the Cavaliers never got a good look at a game-tying three-pointer, looking out of sorts in each of their final three offensive possessions. Virginia is playing well enough to win these games, but a lack of focus at the very beginning and very end of the games is proving to be a very costly trait for this team.

Rebounding

Virginia has shown the capacity to be a very good, bordering on dominant rebounding team at times this season. But the last two games have been ugly on that front, losing the rebounding battle by 12 to the Yellow Jackets and then by 12 again to the Cardinals on Sunday. Especially costly were the 20 offensive rebounds UVA yielded to Louisville resulting in 15 second-chance points and the extra long possessions late in the game that helped the Cards kill the rest of the clock and hang on for the win. Virginia had some excellent defensive possessions in the fourth quarter, but couldn't finish those stops with defensive rebounds and that alone might have cost the Hoos the game on Sunday.

Paris Clark plays her best game of the season

We'll end with a positive note. Paris Clark came into the season still recovering from an offseason surgery and has never quite looked like herself. Sunday was by far her best game of the season and she displayed glimpses of the athletic wing who gave a huge lift to the Cavaliers last season. Clark was the high-scorer in the game with 19 points and finished 9/14 from the floor with seven rebounds, three blocks, three steals, and one assist. Virginia didn't get the win, but if the Hoos get this version of Paris Clark moving forward, the wins will come.

Up next, Virginia hits the road to take on Miami on Thursday at 7pm on ACC Network Extra.

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