Four days after making a statement in a 91-87 victory at then-No. 15 Florida State, Virginia followed that up with a big step back as the Cavaliers suffered a massively-disappointing 56-52 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down the defeat.
Minus
Virginia stumbled out of the gates as Pittsburgh jumped out to a 15-4 lead. The women fought back, because of course they do, and lead 26-23 at the half. Virginia was doomed coming out of the locker room as they put up a 6-point third quarter, maybe their worst quarter of the season. Threes by Olivia McGhee, Cady Pauley and Sam Brunelle, and a strong performance at the line brought Virginia back into the game, after having been down 14 in the third. It was too little, too late.
Plus
Kaydan Lawson has been the victim, minutes-wise, of the arrival of McGhee, Paris Clark and Jillian Brown, but after Virginia laid an egg in the third, Lawson’s energy and defensive intensity sparked the Cavaliers back to life. I’ve written many a time over the past three years that these women do not give up. It certainly looked like they did in the third, however. Lawson changed that, but as I’ve already written, it was too little too late.