– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHESTNUT HILL, MASSACHUSETTS — It took almost a month for Virginia guard Yonta Vaughn to get back on the court, and tonight’s return to action saw her almost singlehandedly keep the Cavaliers within reach of a much-needed victory. A couple of her teammates who had to pick up the slack in her absence then powered the Wahoos home.
Vaughn scored a team and career-high 16 points in her return from injury as the Cavaliers used a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to come away with a 73-66 victory over the Boston College Eagles inside Conte Forum on Thursday evening.
Five different players scored in double figures for the Cavaliers, with Paris Clark scoring 14, Edessa Noyan pouring in a career-high 13, and both Kymora Johnson and Sam Brunelle chipping in with 10.
It was the latter two who scored all of the points during a 9-0 spurt that gave Virginia the lead for good at 65-58. Brunelle scored the first five points, on a putback layup to tie the game and a transition three-pointer from the left wing to put Virginia in the lead at 61-58. Johnson capped the run with back-to-back baskets.
“I saw some poise. They punched at times. We punched back. When they punched again, we didn’t fold and we didn’t crumble,” said Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who earned her 100th win as a head coach with tonight’s victory. “We just stayed together and were poised and played together. That’s something that we’ve been working on, because sometimes when people punch, we go as individuals and everybody wants to do it themselves. But we stayed together.”
Boston College opened up an 18-8 lead in the first quarter, powered by a 14-2 run. Virginia closed that quarter with eight straight points, but the Eagles were able to maintain the lead throughout the first half, taking a 37-34 lead at the intermission.
Andrea Daley led all scorers with 18 points for the Eagles, who have now lost six straight after back-to-back home wins in mid-January against Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with all photos taken by Boston-area photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 17 pictures in total.
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