CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Sophomore Olivia McGhee had 20 points and freshman Breona Hurd finished with 15 in leading the Virginia Cavaliers to an 82-48 nonconference women's basketball win over visiting Bethune-Cookman in front of an announced crowd of 3,883 at John Paul Jones Arena.
 
Virginia (5-1) led 39-14 at the half thanks in large part to Bethune-Cookman going scoreless for large spans across the opening two quarters. That allowed Virginia several runs to eventually widen the lead to an insurmountable mark.
 
The Cavaliers jumped out to a 15-5 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.
 
It would take Bethune-Cookman (2-4) almost five minutes to finally open its scoring account courtesy a Kayla White fade away from the left corner. Facing a tall UVA squad – one of the tallest the Cats will see all season, B-CU looked towards outside shooting, but were ultimately 0 of 4 from long range in the first quarter, and just 2-for-16 shooting from the field in that frame – added an Asianae Nicholson driving layup moments before the end of the quarter.
 
The second quarter saw UVA score 14 of their 22 first half points in the paint, as well as 12 points off the bench. In all, the Cavs outscored the Cats 24-9 in the quarter with Olivia McGhee and Kymora Johnson combining for 21 of those points, respectively.
 
Johnson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field adding a pair of free throws. And it was McGhee finishing 4-for-5 from the floor with a three-pointer.
 
B-CU went just over six minutes into the period without a field goal until Shomari Phillips' three-pointer with 3:37 remaining in the half. That allowed the Maroon and Gold to cut into the lead, 31-9. Phillips, a transfer guard from Winter Haven, Florida, drained her second three of the afternoon to make it 34-12.
 
A 6-0 Cavaliers run was stopped on the strength of a Mya Johnson tip-in with 16 seconds remaining for the Miami freshman's second field goal of the season after missing the first three games with an injury.
 
In the first half, the Cavaliers shot just under 46 percent from the field, and limited B-CU to just a 15 percent clip on a 5-for-33 effort shooting. Free throws continued to plague the Cats in the first half as well with B-CU shooting just 2-for-8 from the charity stripe.
 
Daimoni Dorsey worked her way onto the score sheet in the third quarter with three points alongside Phillips' three-points in the period, while Kayla White and Nicholson also provided scoring for B-CU in a 12-points Wildcats quarter.
 
Bethune-Cookman turned in its best scoring output in the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run towards the latter stages.
 
White poured in nine points in the period with five coming at the foul line. The Cats would shoot 46.7 percent in the final stanza using Phillips with five points to aid White, as well as a Janessa Kelley three-pointer.
 
The Cavaliers were led by McGhee's 20 points and Hurd's 15. Johnson touched double figures with 14, and Taylor Lauterbach scored seven in the final period to give her 10 points and a double-digit output on the day. Latasha Lattimore supplied a game-high 13 rebounds, while Hurd (12) and Lauterbach (10) registered double-doubles. Yonta Vaughn handed out a game-high nine assists.
 
B-CU was led in scoring by Phillips (14) and White (13). Nicholson had eight rebounds to lead all Wildcats. But it was senior center Kayla Clark struggling on the day with six rebounds and just one (1) point on 0-for-9 shooting from the field. White also distributed five assists for the Cats and pulled in a game-high four steals off the bench. In fact, B-CU outscored UVA 9-8 in points off turnovers, as well as outpacing the Cavaliers 33-32 in bench points.
 
The Wildcats continue nonconference play Saturday, Nov. 30, when the Mercer Bears visit Richard V. Moore Gymnasium at 2 p.m.
 
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