The injury-depleted Virginia women’s basketball team has opted out of the remainder of the season, becoming the second Atlantic Coast Conference team to make that decision.
Virginia announced Thursday that the women’s team will not complete the remainder of the season due to health and safety concerns. San Jose State also announced Thursday its women’s program would not complete the season due to COVID-19 issues. The Spartans had previously paused basketball activities twice during the pandemic.
Two other women’s programs have also announced they would not complete the season: Duke said in December that the Blue Devils would not continue playing, which was followed days later by SMU opting out the rest of the season.
Virginia (0-5, 0-2) has canceled six games due to COVID protocols. The Cavaliers, who last played on Dec. 13, also had canceled an early game when they had only five healthy scholarship players available.
“We have the pleasure of coaching a very resilient group of young women who have fought through injuries, a strict COVID-19 protocol, and all the mental battles that come with it,” second-year women’s coach Tina Thompson said in a release.
“So, the decision to end our season mid-stream comes with great difficulty. As difficult as it is to end our season in this manner, it is a necessary one. The health and safety of our student-athletes will always be the number one priority. We will continue to focus on their overall well-being and prepare to resume competition in the fall.”
Concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted the Atlantic 10 Conference to pull its men’s basketball championship out of Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The new location of the championship, which will be played March 10-14, is under review and the league says it will be announced in the near future. It will mark the first time since 2004 that the full championship will be contested on a campus, when Dayton, Ohiom served as host at UD Arena.
Barclays Center has served as the conference championship home for six years and is scheduled to host the 2023 and 2024 championships. Capital One Arena in Washington was previously announced as host of the 2022 championship.
The A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship is set for March 3-7at VCU’s Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia.
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