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Courtesy of Virginia Sports

Despite a close loss to No.11 Miami Thursday, the Virginia women’s basketball team took the court against unranked conference opponent Boston College at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday and secured a 69-58 win. Boston College (5-13, 0-5 ACC) also comes off its fifth-straight loss in conference play to Florida State at home Thursday, 68-59. Virginia (15-4, 3-4 ACC) was ranked No. 22 in scoring defense before this game, allowing only an average of 52.8 points per game and was right behind Duke’s 52.5 average in the conference.

Sophomore guard Ataira Franklin scored a team-high 21 points last night, followed by three other double-digit scorers.  Junior guard Lexie Gerson, senior forward Chelsea Shine and Junior forward Telia McCall recorded 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Franklin put a great effort into the game and was the only player on the court to play all 40 minutes of the game. She recorded five assists and shot 6-for-16 from the field.

Lexie Gerson finished off the night with eight rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes of play. Virginia coach Joanne Boyle and the rest of the team were very pleased with her performance. “She is contributing in a lot of places for us and is having a great year. The one great thing about Lexie is that she’s a great anticipator,” Boyle said. Ataira Franklin also commented on her teammate’s hard work, “Lexie takes her role so seriously, and when she gets in her zone she is great for us as far as rebounding and steals.” Gerson made six steals in the game, which improved her season total to 70.

The Eagles’ sophomore guard Shayra Brown scored a game-high 25 points as well as a team-high six rebounds. She shot 10-for-11 on field goal attempts to contribute to the team’s 49 percent shooting from the field. Last night’s performance replaced her previous career-high of 19 points against Farleigh-Dickinson in Nov. 2011 and her ACC game-high of 10 points against NC State in 2010.

Virginia failed to record any three-pointers during the first half (0-of-5) and in the second half they shot only 25 percent, as opposed to Boston College’s 35 percent shooting from behind the arc.  Franklin, however, felt very positive about the two three-pointers she made in the game. “I feel like I always have a moment like that in the game. It’s just emotional. That was a game they felt they needed to win,” she said. “Both teams were playing competitive. Both teams wanted it. We just really needed this game,” she added, relieved that the team secured a win against Boston College so that it can improve its standing within the conference.

Although the Cavaliers had a rough start, the second half featured their strong effort to gain and secure the lead. “We were down on the boards the entire game and we really clawed back in the second half and we did a really good job at the free throw line,” Coach Boyle said. The Cavaliers managed to make 20-of-25 free throws attempts.

A total of 3,161 fans were in attendance at the game and the enthusiasm they expressed did not wane throughout the course of the game, it only led to uproars of excitement upon high points such as Franklin’s three-pointers and Telia McCall’s free throws close to the end of the game.

Franklin believed the reason the team struggled early on in the game was due largely to the performance of the defense. “I think our major focus was on defense. Once we picked it up on defense, everyone was able to get into a flow offensively.”

Four of Virginia’s six losses this season were by differences of less than 10 points. The ‘Hoos sit behind three tied teams (Georgia Tech, NC State and Florida State) in the ACC and are tied with Virginia Tech in its conference record. Boston College, however, is dead last out of the 12 teams in the conference, which will not change after this game. They have lost six straight games to their ACC rivals, although they did put up a fight against the Cavaliers out on the court yesterday.

Virginia leads the all-time series against the Eagles 9-2 and now holds a 5-1 record in Charlottesville.

The Virginia women’s basketball team continues with conference play on the road this Wednesday, Jan. 25 against Georgia Tech and at home next Sunday, Jan. 29 against Florida State.