Johnson and Brunelle Score 24 Each, Virginia Still Falls to Clemson 75-69
Behind a combined 48 points from Kymora Johnson and Sam Brunelle, the Cavaliers rallied from down 10 points and nearly completed the comeback. But the Tigers withstood the run, and thanks to 23 points from Dayshanette Harris and some favorable officiating, Clemson (11-12, 3-8 ACC) held off Virginia (10-12, 2-9 ACC) 75-69 on Sunday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
Sam Brunelle opened up the game with a three-pointer and Kymora Johnson added a three of her own a few possessions later to give Virginia the early lead. But the Tigers fired back thanks to some dazzling play by Pitt transfer guard Dayshanette Harris, who scored 10 points in the first quarter on 4/5 shooting and scored or assisted on each of Clemson's six baskets in the first. Foul trouble also plagued Virginia early on, as both Kymora Johnson and Alexia Smith, who have been UVA's sole point guards with Yonta Vaughn missing the last five games in concussion protocol, picked up two personal fouls in the opening period. Clemson held a slim 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, a deficit that could have been larger if not for the Tigers committing six turnovers.
Clemson opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run before Kaydan Lawson snapped a four-minute scoring drought for Virginia with a three-pointer, but Madi Ott answered with a three on the next possession. Brunelle came up with big plays on back-to-back possessions, blocking a shot out of bounds on one end and then swishing a three from the right wing on the other. Johnson kept that momentum going, scoring off the glass plus a foul and then scoring again to pull UVA back within one point. But the Tigers responded with the next three baskets and ended the half on a 7-2 run, leading 33-27 at halftime.
Harris (13 points, six assists) and Amari Robinson (11 points) combined to score 24 of Clemson's 33 points at halftime, with Harris scoring or assisting on 11 of her team's 13 baskets. Kymora Johnson had 12 points in the first half, but Virginia shot 34.4% from the floor and Clemson won the rebounding battle 24-12 and outscored UVA 18-10 in the paint.
"Clemson, they played well, they played hard. They deserved to win the game and wanted to win the game," Coach Mox said "I think I'm just disappointed with how we came out, especially early in the first two quarters."
A three-pointer from Nya Valentine gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at 10 points, but Kymora Johnson refused to let the game slip away, scoring back-to-back buckets in the paint before Brunelle knocked down a three. Paris Clark grabbed an offensive rebound and dished out to Brunelle for another three.
But despite their high-level of offensive execution in the third, the Cavaliers remained down by 10 at the end of the period because of two critical factors. First, Virginia continued to struggle on the glass, as Clemson dominated the boards and generated countless second-chance opportunities.
But secondly, and perhaps more damaging, the Cavaliers found themselves on the wrong end of a significant foul and free throw discrepancy. UVA was called for 25 fouls as compared to just 13 for Clemson, and the Tigers attempted 28 free throws to only nine for the Cavaliers. Dayshanette Harris was the prime beneficiary of those whistles, accounting for 16 of those 28 free throws and going 11/16 from the charity stripe. Harris scored five more points in the third, all on free throws, to give Clemson a 54-44 lead entering the fourth quarter.
"She's a powerful guard, powerful driver. She gets to the free throw line a lot." Coach Mox said of Harris. "We had a game plan against her that we didn't really stick to, so it was hard. Basically, what she wants to do, we allowed her to do it."
Despite the 10-point deficit and having several players in foul trouble, not to mention an already depleted roster with Yonta Vaughn and Camryn Taylor still out with injuries, Virginia showed its mettle at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring the first 11 points of the period to seize its first lead since the first quarter. As is usually the case, the run started with Kymora Johnson, who scored twice on a mid-range jumper and an and-one layup. Then it was sophomore Cady Pauley providing a massive lift off the bench, knocking down a pair of corner threes in transition to put Virginia in front.
It was back and forth from there, with the two teams trading the lead a few times until Mackenzie Kramer hit a couple of big threes on back-to-back possessions to put Clemson up 71-64 with 1:31 to go. The Cavaliers had one final run in them, though, as Brunelle made a mid-range jumper and then a three-pointer on UVA's next possession to cut the deficit back down to two.
But there would be no miraculous comeback, as Dayshanette Harris delivered the game-sealing bucket plus a foul to put the game away for good.
Read Val's Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.
Harris finished with 23 points and nine assists and Amari Robinson added 19 points and eight rebounds, while Mackenzie Kramer had 13 points. Clemson shot 47.2% from the floor and outrebounded Virginia by a wide 41-30 margin, scoring 18 second-chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds.
That was enough to hold off the Cavaliers, who knocked down 10 threes and got 24-point performances from both Kymora Johnson and Sam Brunelle, who also had four assists and four blocks in the game. Brunelle has been working on being more impactful on the defensive end and it showed.
"I guess I took it personally for a while because I was never really known to be a good defender," Brunelle said, and added that she wanted to be able to impact the game even when her shots weren't falling.
The threes were falling on Sunday for Brunelle, who knocked down six three-pointers, the most she has ever hit in a UVA uniform. Kymora Johnson, meanwhile, continued her run of exemplary play recently, recording 24 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. It was her fourth game with at least 20 points in the last five games.
"I've just gotten a lot more comfortable and I know what we're capable of and I know what I'm capable of," Johnson said. "So I've just been trying to bring what I can do to each and every game."
With the loss, Virginia falls to 10-12 overall and 2-9 in ACC play. Up next, the Cavaliers head up to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College on Thursday at 6pm on the ACC Network.
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