La Salle women fall to Virginia, 94-73

Virginia controlled the boards and lit up the scoreboard Sunday en route to a 94-73 women’s basketball victory against La Salle at Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers were unable to dig themselves out of a hole to begin the game as they fell to 3-4.

Guard Makayla Miller paced the Explorers with 15 points and seven rebounds. She also had two blocks.

“We needed to match their intensity and be more aggressive with them,” Miller said. “I thought that my team did a good effort for the most part, being aggressive and trying to battle with them. The size advantage was just overwhelming.”

The Cavaliers (6-2) outrebounded the Explorers, 48-34. Kymora Johnson paced Virginia with 17 points and added four assists.

After a three-pointer by La Salle’s Molly Masciantonio to start the game, Virginia responded with a 17-2 scoring run to take command. La Salle committed 11 turnovers in the first half (and 20 for the game) as the Cavaliers forged a 45-33 lead.

Virginia salted the game away after the break, sinking 23 of 25 field goals for the game.

“We had some unfortunate offensive errors that we wish we could have back and even straighten that out,” La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “But three games in a row we’ve been putting some points on the board and that’s something to grow from.”

Virginia went on a 17-5 run end the third quarter, taking a 20-point lead. Back-to-back jumpers from Jillian Brown started the run for the winners.

La Salle will visit Rutgers on Tuesday at 7 p.m.