Littles loss no worry for Cavs

No. 15 Virginia used an impressive debut performance from its freshmen and a solid second half from Wooden Award candidate Monica Wright, rolling past High Point 78-48 in the season opener at John Paul Jones Arena on Friday night.

First-year guard Ariana Moorer led all scorers with 19 points and dished out five assists, and fellow freshman Whitny Edwards delivered in the absence of senior Lyndra Littles, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Another freshman, Chelsea Shine, added 10 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.

“I felt confident tonight — my teammates were helping me and encouraging me,” Moorer said of her first collegiate start. “It’s always nerve-wracking in the beginning, but then it goes away when the ball is tipped up.”

Wright got off to a slow start, missing seven of her nine first half shots, but scored 11 of her 16 points in the second half. Center Aisha Mohammed had 11 points and a team-high 14 rebounds, 10 of those coming on the offensive glass. Moorer and Wright each recorded seven steals.

“I got great play from my first-year players — I thought they were really ready to play tonight,” coach Debbie Ryan said following the opening game of the 32nd season of her Hall of Fame career. “Monica is always a player that comes ready to play, but I thought Ariana Moorer tonight played extremely well. Whitny had a terrific game as well.”

Littles, who averaged 16.8 points and 7 rebounds a year ago, was ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester, the school announced Friday. Ryan hopes that the first-year players, along with guard Britnee Millner can step up in her absence for the remainder of Littles’ absence from the team.

“It’s a huge loss for us,” Ryan admitted. “We’ve been prepared for it. We had some advanced notice about it. We will have to have the next woman up and we’re going to have to move on, there’s just nothing we can do about it.”

High Point kept it close midway through the first half, but Virginia went on a 17-4 run over the final 7:48 of the half to lead 34-19 at the break.

The Cavs picked up where they left off, as they shot 43 percent after the half — 17 percent better than their first-half performance. Virginia scored 32 points off 37 Panthers turnovers, and outrebounded High Point 52-34.

Millner, who will likely split point guard duties with Moorer, left the game with an ankle injury but returned in the second half. The backcourt tandem will have big shoes to fill this season, as Friday marked the Cavs’ first game without Sharnee Zoll, who set the ACC all-time assist record in her senior season last year.

“That’s got to be a little bit of a learning curve,” Ryan said. “If [Moorer] is going to give me 19 points, I can’t worry about four more assists.”

Moorer added: “I’ve been striving to fill that role, and pick up where [Zoll] left off. It’s been challenging but it’s getting better every day.”

The Cavaliers (1-0) will now travel to Knoxville to take on seventh-ranked Tennessee on Monday night. Ryan knows that her team needs to work out a few kinks in order to pull off an upset on the road.

“You won’t be able to turn the ball over like that against Tennessee, or you’ll be down by 20 in a heartbeat,” said Ryan. “We have to be a little more physical and we have to be better on the boards. I think we can be even better than we were tonight.”