UVA Women's Basketball Takes Down Virginia Tech 73-65

Virginia women's basketball (11-7, 3-3 ACC) earned its first victory in Blacksburg since 2020, vanquishing Virginia Tech (12-5, 3-3 ACC) on the road 73-65 on Thursday night at Cassell Coliseum. Let's dive into some takeaways from UVA's most impressive victory of the season.

Virginia wins the game in the third quarter

The first 20 minutes of the game was about as even as it can get. Virginia Tech won the opening quarter 22-21 and UVA won the second 14-13, leading to a halftime score of 35-35. The Hokies won the fourth quarter 18-11. So, how did the Cavaliers come away with the win? By dominating the third quarter. Virginia came out of the halftime break and played its best basketball of the season on both ends of the floor. The Hoos outscored the Hokies 27-12 overall and 20-6 in the paint in the third quarter. UVA shot 12/18 from the floor and got 10 points from Latasha Lattimore in that period alone. That allowed Virginia to build a lead as large as 18 points and the Hokies never recovered.

Virginia Tech had no answer for Latasha Lattimore

UVA has had far too many losses to count in which an opposing team's forward or center scored at will against the overmatched Cavaliers. On Thursday night in Blacksburg, the Cavaliers turned the tables on the Hokies, as Latasha Lattimore was truly unstoppable. Lattimore, who averaged 5.5 points per game in her career before arriving at UVA this season, erupted for a season-high 24 points and matched a career-high with 15 rebounds. She nearly had a double-double at halftime with 10 points and eight rebounds. Somehow, her final stat line of 24 points on 11/23 shooting, 15 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks doesn't begin to convey what a remarkable performance Lattimore had against the Hokies. Virginia was also creative in its methods of getting the ball to Lattimore down low, with Kymora Johnson, Olivia McGhee, Breona Hurd, Edessa Noyan, and Paris Clark all registering assists.

Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.

Virginia's defense smothers the Hokies

Coach Mox's squad has been workshopping a 3-2 zone and the Hoos have made significant progress in recent games. But on this night, Virginia went back to the man-to-man defense and executed at a high level on that end of the floor. Virginia Tech shot 4/8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, but went 2/12 for the rest of the game, including 0/4 in each of the second and third quarters. The Cavaliers were quick on their feet, sound and disciplined in their rotations and their help defense, and aggressive in jumping passing lanes, forcing 17 Virginia Tech turnovers that they turned into 21 points on the other end. UVA also had eight blocks as a team. If the Hoos are able to consistently execute this level of defense while running multiple styles of defense, they could become one of the conference's better defensive teams the rest of the way.

Another big-time resume win for the Cavaliers

One week ago, Virginia earned its first Quad 1 win of the season, knocking off Clemson (NET No. 53) on the road 67-60. UVA just barely missed out on another Quad 1 win in its next game by coming up short against No. 14 Duke 60-55 on Sunday in Charlottesville, but that was still a very encouraging performance for Coach Mox's team. Now, the Cavaliers have strung together a series of quality all-around showings and have earned a second Quad 1 victory, taking down Virginia Tech (NET No. 46) on Thursday night in Blacksburg. It should be noted that, while the Hokies no longer have Georgia Amoore, Liz Kitley, or Kenny Brooks, this is still a good Virginia Tech team that came into the night on a three-game winning streak. This Virginia team is trending in the right direction and there are plenty of resume-building opportunities for the Cavaliers on the horizon, with back-to-back games against ranked opponents looming next on UVA's schedule.

Virginia seizes the Commonwealth

UVA earned its second-straight win in the series against Virginia Tech, following up last year's epic 80-75 victory over then-No. 5 Virginia Tech in the regular season finale at John Paul Jones Arena with the Cavaliers' first win at Cassell Coliseum since February 23rd, 2020. The win awards half a point to Virginia in the 2024-2025 Commonwealth Clash, which UVA now leads 5.5-1, and the Cavaliers will have an opportunity to sweep the Hokies in the return game in Charlottesville, which will be played on Sunday, February 9th at John Paul Jones Arena.

In case you want to see how much this win means to Coach Mox and her team, see the video below:

𝒱𝒾𝒸𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝑀𝒾𝓃𝑒 🎶#GoHoos 🔸⚔️🔹#GNSL pic.twitter.com/iRQIvB2PLV
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) January 17, 2025

Up next, Virginia stays on the road and will visit No. 21 NC State on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff from Reynolds Coliseum is set for 2pm ET and the game will be televised on The CW Network.

More UVA Women's Basketball News & Content

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Falls Late to Duke

Five Takeaways From UVA Women's Basketball's 60-55 Loss to Duke

Round Robin: Evaluating UVA Women's Basketball at Halfway Point of Season