GREENSBORO, N.C. – The 10th-seeded Virginia Cavaliers had an answer and more for every shot that the 15th-seeded Boston College Eagles dropped in winning 74-59 in their opening-round game in the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Women’s Basketball Tournament played at the Greensboro Coliseum on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers’ Ataira Franklin scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the opening twenty minutes of play, and helped put together a 12-0 run that took advantage of a nearly 10-minute Eagles scoring drought to take an early 21-9 lead.
During the latter part of the opening half, Boston College answered back with a run of its own, and posted nine consecutive points that closed the gap to three points, trailing 21-18 with 4:54 remaining.
However, the three-point deficit would be as close as the Eagles would get for the remainder of the game as Virginia was able to pull momentum back in its favor as Franklin converted on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cavaliers a seven-point halftime advantage, 35-28.
Just excited to get our first win down here,” Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle said.
“It’s all about advancing. I thought the team for the most part we played a pretty well rounded game on both ends of the floor. I was excited about that. We played team basketball, which is what we’ve been working towards. It’s nice to get our first win.”
By playing a complete inside-to-outside game offensively and shooting 43 percent from the field, including dropping 9 of 20 beyond the arc, the Cavaliers were able to focus on their work off the glass to outrebound the Eagles 37-24.
While Boston College was able to scrap and continue to put points on the board, so did Virginia, extending its lead to as many as 15 points (64-49) with 5:06 to play in game.
“We couldn’t get the stops when we needed the stops,” Boston College head coach Erik Johnson said.
“I thought our coverages were good, our communication was solid. When they really wanted to go one on one, they made some big shots. We had a couple of over helps, we gave up some 3’s, and obviously they hit big ones. A lot of it has to do with Virginia, they did a great job. When you want to win a game at that level you need to be able to score and get the stops. And we couldn’t get the stops when we needed them.”
With the victory, Virginia advanced to the second round to face the seventh-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Thursday at 6 p.m.