Georgia women’s basketball outlasted by Virginia in NCAA Tournament

No. 7 seed Georgia ran out of gas in overtime, falling to No. 10 seed Virginia, 82-73, in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament Saturday in Sacramento.

The Bulldogs and their young roster end the season 22-10, the most wins for the program since the 2017-18 season.

Georgia was outscored 11-2 in overtime and forward Mia Woolfolk, who led the Bulldogs in scoring with 27 points and had battled in the paint all game, played just two minutes in overtime. Her 27 points are the most for a Georgia player in the tournament since 2010.

The Bulldogs had an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter before Virginia staged a comeback. Two quick 3’s, one by Romi Levy (14 points, 5 steals) and one by Kymora Johnson (game-high 28 points), plus two free throws by Johnson brought it within one. Johnson assisted on a jumper by forward Caitlin Weimar to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the second half, 68-67, with 4:39 to play.

“That was big … And then Mia went out, and now they’re really pressuring us on the perimeter because Mia’s out … Not being able to get her the ball, and she was a bucket tonight,” Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. “Her going out really hurt us, because they could really extend on the perimeter.”

Woolfolk made two free throws and a jumper with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter, but Levy responded with a 3-pointer to tie it at 71 at the 1:29 mark. Woolfolk missed two free throws with a little over a minute to play and missed a jumper at the end of regulation to send it to overtime.

Overall, Georgia went 22-of-35 from the free-throw line (62.9%) to Virginia’s 12-of-15 (80%).

“I think it’s just the whole year, just getting beat up and beat up and slammed and beat up and beat up,” Abrahamson-Henderson said when asked about Woolfolk’s injury. “It doesn’t end for her. She really wanted to work. She did a great job, she had 27 points. … She could have had 34 points if she would have made some of those free throws. So obviously it really hurt us in the overtime, not having her out there.”

Junior guard Riley Theuerkauf went 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the second quarter to help get the Bulldogs going after falling into an eight-point hole. Georgia claimed a 43-42 lead at halftime on a jumper from Woolfolk. But Theuerkauf was held to two points in the second half, finishing with 22 points and four assists.

The Bulldogs focused on feeding Woolfolk in the second half, but Virginia’s defense also contributed to that drop-off, according to Theuerkauf: “Mia did a great job when she got the ball inside, and I think also they changed from their zone to their man (defense), so they were definitely denying me a little bit harder.”

Virginia also limited Georgia’s leading scorer Dani Carnegie (who entered averaging 18.1 points per game) to eight points, to go with three rebounds and five assists.

Virginia shot 51.7% (30-of-58) from the field and 47.6% (10-of-21) from 3-point range to Georgia’s 44% from the field (22-of-50) and 29.2% from 3 (7-of-24).