Terps spoil Wright’s night
Megan Lovett/The Daily Progress
Virginia senior guard Monica Wright made program history on Monday night, but the Cavaliers were unable to get past ACC foe Maryland, falling 61-60. Wright had 20 points to set a new all-time scoring record.
For the first 27 minutes Monday night, the crowd inside John Paul Jones Arena appeared focused merely on the Moni-Meter.
The game itself, which oddly served as the backdrop early on, finally took center stage over the final 13 minutes after Monica Wright had etched her place in program history as the all-time leading scorer.
It was a missed shot and a missing whistle as the final buzzer sounded, however, that ultimately left Virginia reeling from a 61-60 setback that spoiled Wright’s postgame celebration at John Paul Jones Arena.
After Virginia (11-5, 0-2 ACC) called a timeout as Wright raced into the frontcourt unguarded with 3.1 seconds left, Virginia designed a play to get the ball to the senior guard.
It worked as Wright took the entry pass from Jayna Hartig, but Maryland (13-3, 1-1) had three defenders collapse as Wright drove towards the basket.
Seeing the pressure and without time to pass off, Wright forced a leaning jumper as she collided with Maryland’s Lynetta Kizer.
The ball never reached the rim and official Dee Kantner never blew her whistle as Wright went to the floor hard.
“As soon as I got the ball I turned and there was like three people around me so…my first thought was to try and go, then I realized there was another person coming toward me,” Wright recounted. “So I was like, ‘Who can I dump it off to?’ There
wasn’t that many options with three seconds left. I tried to go up and draw the foul.
“It was a physical game and there is no telling what would have been called with 6 minutes left. I don’t really know.”
The missed shot ruined what could have been a memorable night for Wright — with 13:01 left in the second half, she nailed a 3-pointer from the wing to pass former guard Dawn Staley, setting the all-time scoring mark.
Many in attendance questioned the final timeout as Wright appeared to have a clear path to the basket. But it had been predetermined that the Cavaliers would set up their offense.
“I felt like that was the best decision and these guys agreed,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “I didn’t know who would end up with the rebound or who would get the ball so I just decided to bring it to me.
“I don’t know if Moni could have kept going. I don’t know if she looked. I just think that the best shot was for us to bring it up and run a half-court play.”
Wright, who scored 20 points on 7-for-24 shooting from the field, agreed with Ryan.
“I did see in transition that their defense wasn’t set up,” she said, “but to play it safe and go off what we had decided before, it would have been a better bet just to call that timeout.”
In the first half after both teams scored, Maryland used a 10-0 run over a span of just 2:20 to take a double-digit lead. The scoring spree coincided with a rough start for Virginia — the Cavaliers missed their first five shots from the field.
Virginia eventually got into a groove offensively and closed out the half on a 9-4 run, which included a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Ariana Moorer, to tie the game up 32-all.
For the game, Virginia took 28 more shots than Maryland, but managed to shoot just 30.8 percent from the field (24 of 78) and made just four of its 18 shots from behind the 3-point line.
“I felt like it was a physical and hard-fought game,” Ryan said. “I didn’t think that we played very well offensively at times. When you force as many turnovers as we did (28) and you shoot 28 more shots than the other team you should win the game.”
Maryland, which shot 46 percent from the field (23 of 50), was paced by a 20-point performance from Lori Bjork. Kizer chipped in with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
The Cavaliers are off until Monday when they travel to Virginia Tech.
The contest will start at 5 p.m.
Reader Reactions
Coach Ryan has a young but very talented team that knows how to play intense defense. What is particularly satisfying is seeing Monica’s leadership that is going to pay off as this season progresses. They score very well on the fast break and when they get good movement without the ball. This game was part of their learning curve being on a national ESPN broadcast. Sure they were playing tight at the beginning of both halves. But in perspective, this game was not “spoiled”. It will pay dividends down the road. They are a very fun to watch team of future champions.
The problem for UVA was defense. Maryland had not trouble penetrating and bring the ball up court and setting up the offense with no pressure. We need to improve the defense because we do not have the most talented offensive players
Jay – Thanks for your consistently fair coverage of our gals. Never before have I spent time questioning Debbie Ryan’s coaching decisions; there is no way I can imagine all that goes into making choices during a game. However, I woke up this morning thinking, “It wasn’t fair to pass the ball to Moni!” Besides the time out, and the official’s missing a foul, in hindsight I feel that putting the ball – and the game – in Monica Wright’s hands with 3.2 seconds remaining was asking too much of this fabulous player and team captain. If she had passed it out to Ariana Moorer or any other player, that would have been sharing the weight, yet in no way be abdicating the responsibility. It was very sad to see Monica give in to defeat at the end of the game, laying face down with her teammates helpless around her.
I do love this team!
About the field goal percentage – all I can say is, “Paulisha, don’t give up! We know you still got it, and when you get your groove on, we’ll be cheering for ya!”
Maryland’s shooting and Virginia’s lack thereof was the determining factor. Any time a team turns the ball over 20 times should not win the game but Maryland beat the odds by out- shooting Virginia. I still believe the UVa gals will do well in the conference though.
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