Virginia women’s basketball opened play at the Discover Puerto Rico Shootout with a close 66-61 win over Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down the win.

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  After a slog of uninspiring matches against largely overwhelmed cupcakes, the Virginia Cavaliers played an entertaining match against the Green Bay Phoenix.  The game featured 13 lead changes and seven ties with both teams opening up their biggest leads (six for Green Bay and Virginia by five) in the last 12 minutes.  Green Bay’s Cassie Shiltz (4/9) and Callie Genke (4/8) were a great one-two punch from deep and more than kept the Phoenix in the game.

Minus

Through three quarters, Virginia was 4/11 from the free throw line. 

(There’s a reason they are called free throws.  They are just that.  Free points.)

Plus

In the fourth quarter, Virginia flipped the switch and were 10/11 from the charity stripe.  That was the ball game right there.  Breonna Hurd, who had shot only 50% from the line for the first three quarters (3/6) suddenly went 5/5 while Kymora Johnson converted all four of her free throws in what became a clutch shooting performance.  Hurd’s 11 free throws for the game were the most by a Cavalier since London Clarkson’s miraculous 14/14 performance against Boston College two years ago.

Plus

Paris Clark made her return to the squad.  She was kept on a pretty tight minutes restriction (19 minutes) but she had four offensive boards and two steals.  This was her best, and all-too-typical, sequence in which she grabbed an offensive rebound and ended up with a steal and put back. 

It must be annoying to play against Clark because a pesky play like this is just par for the course for Clark.

Minus

Virginia had more turnovers (17) than assists (15).  That’s usually a stat that would indicate a loss.  So, maybe it’s a positive that Virginia still got the win.