CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) — The UVa women’s basketball team earned a combined 39 points from Camryn Taylor and Sam Brunelle in beating Minnesota 73-70 on day one of the Cavalier Classic.
Taylor had a game-high 22 points. Brunelle had 17 points. Mir McLean had his second double-double of the year with 11 points and 15 rebounds, a career high.
Virginia rallied from an early 10-point deficit, going on an 18-0 run in the second quarter to help the ‘Hoos lead 35-31 at halftime.
With the victory, Virginia goes 7-0 for the first time in 30 years.
“30 years, I didn’t know because there have been so many great teams here,” said first-year UVA head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. “The culture that we have tried to instill and have instilled helps us in games when we have to overcome the difficulty. It is also an honor for the players, we have a lot of talent here. They had to buy”.
UVa senior striker Camryn Taylor said: “We had to buy. We all arrived ready to play and ready to learn. It was a new system but we were ready to capitalize, we were open to making mistakes but we knew we could capitalize on those mistakes and build on our weaknesses and capitalize on our strengths.
RIDING NOTES
- Virginia shot 44.4% (31 of 76), while Minnesota went 25 of 61 (41.0%)
- The Cavaliers were 3 of 9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, while Minnesota was 7 of 7. Virginia was 7 of 13 overall (53.8%) from the free throw line
- Virginia held a 44-41 rebound advantage
- The Cavaliers have collected 20 assists, the second time this season reaching the mark of 20 assists in one game
- The Cavaliers had 16 interceptions, the most they had since a Jan. 9, 2020 game against Duke
- It was Camryn Taylor’s second 20-point game of the year and eighth of her career
- Taylor was 11 of 22 from the field
- Taylor scored 14 of his points in the second half
- Mir McLean was 4 of 5 from the field
- McLean’s previous career high for rebound was 14 last year against Duke
- Sam Brunelle scored 17 points, his fifth double-digit game of the season
- Virginia was 1 of 17 three-pointers before Brunelle made three three-pointers in the fourth quarter
- The last time UVA started the season 7-0 was an 8-0 start to the 1992-93 season.
- The seven-game winning streak is the longest winning streak for the team since winning eight in a row during the 2017-18 season (December 17-January 11).
- UVA guard Alexia Smith played two seasons for the Golden Gophers before moving to UVA last summer
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