# 2018–19 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team

The 2018–19 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team represented the University of Virginia during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cavaliers, led by first year head coach Tina Thompson, played their home games at John Paul Jones Arena and were members the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 12–19, 5–11 in ACC play to finish in twelfth place. They advanced to the second round of the ACC women's tournament where they lost to Syracuse.

## Previous season

The 2017–18 Cavaliers finished the season 19–14, 10–6 in ACC play to finish in a 3-way tie for sixth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACC women's tournament where they lost to Notre Dame. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament which was their first trip since 2009, where they defeated California first round before losing to South Carolina in the second round.
On March 20, Boyle announced her retirement, initially citing an unspecified family matter. She would later reveal that she retired because of snags in her ongoing attempt to finalize the adoption of her Senegalese daughter. Boyle finished at Virginia with a record of 129–98.
On April 16, 2018 Tina Thompson was named as her replacement.

### Recruiting Class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Erica Martinsen G | Clarence, New York | IMG Academy | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | No. 6 Mississippi State | L 44–72 | 0–1 | John Paul Jones Arena (4,453) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 15, 2018* 8:30 pm, SECN | | at Kentucky | L 51–63 | 0–2 | Rupp Arena (4,989) Lexington, KY |
| November 18, 2018* 2:00 pm | | at Old Dominion | W 73–67 | 1–2 | Ted Constant Convocation Center (2,137) Norfolk, VA |
| November 20, 2018* 11:00 am, ACCN Extra | | North Carolina A&T | W 67–57 | 2–2 | John Paul Jones Arena (10,000) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 24, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Central Michigan Cavalier Classic | L 61–74 | 2–3 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,572) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 25, 2018* 3:30 pm, ACCN Extra | | Saint Louis Cavalier Classic | L 65–67 | 2–4 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,413) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 28, 2018* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at Michigan State ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 66–91 | 2–5 | Breslin Center (4,219) East Lansing, MI |
| December 2, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Coppin State | W 55–41 | 3–5 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,304) Charlottesville, VA |
| December 5, 2018* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | American | W 57–54 | 4–5 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,549) Charlottesville, VA |
| December 8, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Radford | L 44–57 | 4–6 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,365) Charlottesville, VA |
| December 20, 2018* 4:00 pm, FloHoops | | vs. Alabama Florida Sunshine Classic | L 52–64 | 4–7 | Warden Arena (298) Orlando, FL |
| December 21, 2018* 4:00 pm, FloHoops | | vs. South Florida Florida Sunshine Classic | W 74–67 | 5–7 | Warden Arena (373) Orlando, FL |
| December 30, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Charlotte | W 65–61 | 6–7 | John Paul Jones Arena (2,841) Charlottesville, VA |
| ACC regular season ||||||
| January 3, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Florida State | L 61–63 | 6–8 (0–1) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,376) Charlottesville, VA |
| January 6, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Clemson | L 65–71 | 6–9 (0–2) | Littlejohn Coliseum (1,056) Clemson, SC |
| January 10, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Virginia Tech Rivalry | W 62–58 | 7–9 (1–2) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,703) Charlottesville, VA |
| January 13, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | No. 8 NC State | L 38–66 | 7–10 (1–3) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,530) Charlottesville, VA |
| January 17, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at No. 4 Louisville | L 43–91 | 7–11 (1–4) | KFC Yum! Center (7,834) Louisville, KY |
| January 24, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Pittsburgh | W 74–57 | 8–11 (2–4) | Peterson Events Center (447) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 27, 2019 3:00 pm, RSN | | Wake Forest | L 42–52 | 8–12 (2–5) | John Paul Jones Arena (3,898) Charlottesville, VA |
| January 31, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at No. 18 Syracuse | L 68–72 | 8–13 (2–6) | Carrier Dome (1,585) Syracuse, NY |
| February 3, 2019 1:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Miami (FL) | L 59–72 | 8–14 (2–7) | Watsco Center (1,059) Coral Gables, FL |
| February 7, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Boston College | W 79–77 $^{OT}$ | 9–14 (3–7) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,382) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 10, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | Duke | W 53–47 | 10–14 (4–7) | John Paul Jones Arena (3,536) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 17, 2019 3:00 pm, RSN | | at North Carolina | L 53–70 | 10–15 (4–8) | Carmichael Arena (3,445) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 21, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | No. 4 Louisville | L 49–71 | 10–16 (4–9) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,588) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 24, 2019 3:00 pm, RSN | | Georgia Tech | W 53–45 | 11–16 (5–9) | John Paul Jones Arena (3,834) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 28, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | | at Virginia Tech | L 45–63 | 11–17 (5–10) | Cassell Coliseum (2,287) Blacksburg, VA |
| March 3, 2019 12:30 pm, RSN | | at No. 4 Notre Dame | L 66–103 | 11–18 (5–11) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (9,149) South Bend, IN |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 6, 2019 1:00 pm, RSN | (12) | vs. (13) Boston College First Round | W 77–61 | 12–18 | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
| March 7, 2019 11:00 am, RSN | (12) | vs. (5) No. 18 Syracuse Second Round | L 57–67 | 12–19 | Greensboro Coliseum (6,522) Greensboro, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |