February 26, 2012

In the regular-season finale, Virginia defeated Florida State, 66-57, with senior guard Ariana Moorer scoring 23 points to lead four Cavaliers that scored in double figures.

With the win, Virginia improved to 21-9 overall and finished the regular-season with a 9-7 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference action.

Virginia swept the regular-season series with Florida State for the first time since the 2007-08 season, having also won in January, 62-52, in Charlottesville.

Virginia battled through foul trouble in the first half, as Simone Egwu, Franklin, Lexie Gerson and Jazmin Pitts (Mosely, Va.) were called for two fouls apiece.

Reserve guard Kelsey Wolfe stepped up in Franklin’s absence, tallying 11 first-half points. Virginia led at the break, 37-31.

In the second half, Franklin drained an elbow jumper at the 18:52 mark to extend the Cavaliers’ lead to 39-31 and later in the half Moorer put UVa up by double digits with a 3-pointer that made the score 44-33 in favor of UVa with 15:27 left in the game.

Florida State later tied the game on a reverse lay-up by Natasha Howard with 6:37 left in the game.

Franklin broke a 51-51 tie with a 3-pointer on the left side with 6:12 left in the game to put UVa up, 54-51. Egwu gave Virginia more breathing room with a lay-up on the next Cavalier possession that put Virginia up, 56-51.

An old-fashioned three-point play by Moorer and a 3-pointer by Gerson essentially shut the door on Florida State and capped an 11-0 run by Virginia after the tie score at 51-51.

Wolfe finished with 11 for the game, while Gerson and Franklin added 10 apiece.

The Cavaliers will be the No. 6 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament.