CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Kymora Johnson finished with 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds, but 10th-seeded Virginia’s remarkable run in the women’s NCAA Tournament ended with a Sweet 16 loss to third-seeded TCU, 79-69, on Saturday night in Sacramento, Calif.

“What they accomplished over the last couple of games is what March is all about,” TCU coach Mark Campbell said. “They’re a team that’s playing their best basketball. And it took 40 minutes to get that win.”

Marta Suarez scored 33 points and had 10 rebounds and Olivia Miles added 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Horned Frogs used a dominant second half to return to the Elite Eight for the second straight year. 

Paris Clark scored 20 for the Cavaliers, who were seeking their first Elite Eight appearance since 1996. Things started off promisingly enough. UVA led 21-17 after one quarter and went to the locker room ahead 36-35.

But TCU authored a dominant third quarter, outscoring Virginia 24-11, with Suarez scoring 13 of her points in the period. 

“Third quarter got away from us a little bit,” UVA coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “But other than that, I was really proud of our fight. I was proud of the resiliency we showed.”

The fourth quarter opened with the Cavaliers down 59-47.

A 3-pointer from Clark cut TCU’s advantage to 61-52 with 8:40 to go. The Horned Frogs held a double-figure lead the rest of the way, until Johnson, who set a program record with 103 3-pointers this season, knocked down a 3 with 59.6 to go, trimming the deficit to 74-66.

Johnson, a Charlottesville native and former St. Anne’s-Belfield star, became one of the darlings of the Big Dance. She scored 17 points in Virginia’s First Four win over Arizona State, then put up 28 in back-to-back wins over Georgia and Iowa as UVA became the first team to advance from the First Four to the Sweet 16 in the history of the women’s tournament. 

But Johnson, who logged 50 minutes in the win over Iowa, finished 7 for 22 shooting, including going 4 for 11 from 3, while committing four turnovers.

A victory Saturday night would have set up a meeting with one of the Virginia program’s all-time greats. Dawn Staley’s 1-seed South Carolina beat Oklahoma Saturday to advance to the Elite Eight. 

The Gamecocks will face TCU at 9 p.m. Monday for a spot in the Final Four.