No. 19 Cavs' Travel to Play Wake Forest

Story Links

January 27, 1999

# 19 Virginia (13-5, 6-2)at Wake Forest (6-12, 2-6)

Jan. 28, 1999 7:00 p.m.
Winston-Salem, N.C. Joel Coliseum (14,407)

TV: none
Radio: WINA 1070 AM

The Cavaliers enter tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak. This game marks the start of the second round of conference play for the Cavaliers and they currently are in second place in the ACC standings behind Duke (9-0).

Virginia most recently defeated Baylor 80-51 in a nationally televised game as part of the ACC/Big 12 Challenge. Erin Stovall led the Cavaliers with 15 points while DeMya Walker recorded her sixth double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

The Cavaliers are 9-2 in University Hall and 4-3 on the road. In ACC games, Virginia is 3-1 at home and 3-1 on the road.

DeMya Walker continues to lead the team in scoring (15.6 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), assists (3.0 apg) and blocked shots (3.1 bpg). Erin Stovall has moved into second place in scoring (15.3 ppg) while Monick Foote ranks third (12.6 ppg).

In the Polls
The Cavaliers have been ranked every week in either the AP or USA Today poll since Jan. 8, 1984. The Cavaliers have been ranked a total of 274 consecutive weeks in at least one of the polls.

Virginia holds the longest active streak of any ACC team in the AP poll-176 weeks. The current streak in the AP poll started on Nov. 20, 89. The Cavaliers have appeared in every USA Today poll for a total of 254 consecutive weeks.

How the Teams Match Up Virginia Wake Forest Points 78.1 64.6 Points Allowed 63.7 70.5 Rebounds 40.6 41.4 Rebound Margin +2.4 +1.6 FG % .447 .384 FG% defense .376 .420 3-pt FG % .289 .324 FT % .700 .633 Assists 14.6 16.1 Turnovers 17.9 18.5 Blocks 6.4 2.6 Steals 10.8 6.9

Series with Wake Forest
Tonight’s game marks the 44th meeting between the two teams. Virginia holds a 42-1 record in the series and has won 40 straight against the Demon Deacons. The only loss in the series happened on Jan. 13, 1978 when Wake Forest posted a 60-59 win over the Cavaliers in University Hall.

The Cavaliers have never lost to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. This game reunites Wake Forest Head Coach Charlene Curtis with Virginia Head Coach Debbie Ryan. Curtis was an assistant coach for Ryan at Virginia in 1982 and 1983.

Last Time Vs. Wake Forest
DeMya Walker scored 19 points, including eight in a decisive second-half run, as No. 15 Virginia opened its Atlantic Coast Conference season with a 65-45 victory over Wake Forest on Dec. 4.

The Demon Deacons trailed 26-23 at halftime, holding Walker to seven points and the Cavaliers to 10-for-30 shooting. Virginia opened the second half with a 22-7 run, working the ball inside to Walker.

Erin Stovall added 15 points for the Cavaliers and Lesley Brown had 12. Walker finished with eight rebounds, six blocks, five assists and four steals. The Cavaliers played without senior guard Monick Foote who was sidelined with a pulled hamstring.

Alisha Moseley led Wake Forest with 13 points and Brenda Kirkpatrick had 10.

Ryan Nears 500
Head Coach Debbie Ryan needs only six wins to reach the 500-win mark for her career. Ryan has averaged 23 wins per season and enters her 22nd season with a career and Virginia record of 494-170.

Sly Better Off Bench
Svetlana Volnaya, or “Sly” as her teammates call her, earned a starting role early in the season and started the first 10 games. Her productivity fell off in the Auburn game and Sly found herself in a reserve role in seven of the next eight games. Her stats proved she was more valuable off the bench and she even logged more minutes when playing as a sub. Below is the comparison of her stats when she starts and when she subs:

          Games  Pts.  Reb.   FG%    3-ptFG%  Min.Starter   11     7.2   2.5   .329   .205      19.6Reserve    7     8.3   3.4   .489   .444      19.9

Walker Ranks Fifth In Career Rebounds
DeMya Walker continues to climb up the chart in career rebounds. The 6-3 senior has a career average of 7.6 rebounds per game and 842 total for her career. She needs 12 more to move ahead of Heidi Burge in fourth place.

           Reb.   Player (years)                  G   1.   1221   Wendy Palmer (1993-96)         126   2.    955   Heather Burge (1990-93)        135   3.    932   Cathy Grimes (1982-85          114   4.    853   Heidi Burge (1990-93)          134   5.    842   DeMya Walker (1996-present )   111   6.    827   Dawn Bryant (1986-89)          123   7.    772   Dawn Staley (1990-92)          131

Foote and Stovall Moving Up Charts in 3-Point Shooting
Monick Foote and Erin Stovall are becoming one of the most deadly three-point shooting combos in UVa history since Foote teamed with Tora Suber several years ago. Foote needs only one more trey to move into second place all-time in the three-point field goals made, ahead of Tammi Reiss. Stovall who connected on 32 trifectas last season, holds onto ninth place with 63 career three-pointers.

        3FGM  Player (years)               Att.   1.   220   Tora Suber (1994-97)         666   2.   139   Tammi Reiss (1989-92)        334   3.   139   Monick Foote (1995-present)  387   4.   134   Dena Evans (1990-93)         370   5.   131   Dawn Staley (1989-92)        371   6.    91   Kate Mooney (1995-present**) 282   6.    91   Mimi McKinney (1995-98 )     288   8.    64   Kathy McConnell (1987-89)    210   9.    63   Erin Stovall (1997-present)  221   10.   49   Donna Holt (1987-88)         128

**redshirting the 1999 season

Walker Ranks Third in ACC in Career Blocked Shots
DeMya Walker is approaching another milestone in her UVa career. She currently ranks second in the ACC with 302 career blocked shots. With her block in the Florida State game on Jan. 22, she moved into sole possession of second place in the ACC standings. The all-time leader in the ACC is Dawn Royster of North Carolina (1984-87) who tallied 329 blocked shots in her career.

        Player, team          Years    GP    Blk   Avg.   1.   Dawn Royster (UNC)    1984-87  110   329   3.0   2.   DeMya Walker (UVa.)   1996-    111   302   2.7   3.   Peggy Caple (Clemson) 1982-85  119   298   2.5

Stovall Scorching the Nets
Erin Stovall has opened the new year with a scoring blitz. The 5-9 sophomore scored a career-high 26 points in the win at Clemson (Jan. 2) and followed that with 25 points in the loss at Duke (Jan. 4). Stovall was named the ACC Player of the Week (Jan. 4) for her performance and she is the first player since the 1996-97 season to score 25 or more points in back-to-back games (DeMya Walker). Stovall scored 14 points in the win over Maryland (Jan. 8) and connected on a team-high 19 points in the win at N.C. State (Jan. 11). Stovall scored eight points in a 12-1 run in the second half that sealed the win against the Wolfpack. She followed that with 19 points vs. Georgia Tech (Jan. 14) and 24 points vs. North Carolina (Jan. 18).

Since gaining a regular starting role on Dec. 29 vs. Auburn, Erin Stovall is averaging 18.4 points per game. When she is in the starting line-up, the Cavaliers are 8-2. Against ranked opponents, Stovall averages 25.0 ppg.

On the Boards
Crashing the boards or lack thereof has been Virginia’s achilles heel this year. For a team that prided itself on rebounding in recent years, this year’s team has had its ups and downs. The Cavaliers have been outrebounded in seven games this season and are 2-5 in those games. However, when the Cavaliers outrebound their opponent, they are 11-0.

The win at Clemson was the first time this season the Cavaliers pulled out a win with fewer rebounds than the opponent (45-53). The Cavaliers squeezed out a win over Maryland on Jan. 8 despite being outrebounded 41-37.

The Cavaliers hold a slim +2.4 rebound margin over its opponents this season. Last season was the first time since 1988-89 that Virginia did not have a positive rebound margin by the season’s end (-1.4).

Cavs Start Off the New Year vs. Ranked Opponents
The 22nd-ranked Cavaliers opened the new year with a win at #10 Clemson, 67-66 in overtime and a loss at #13 Duke 84-68. These were the first ranked teams the Cavaliers faced this season.

The last time Virginia faced back-to-back ranked opponents on the road was in February, 1997 when the Cavaliers defeated #22 Duke 86-56 (Feb. 19, 1997) in Durham and lost to #4 North Carolina 70-65 in Chapel Hill. The Cavaliers were ranked 11th at the time.

Last season, Virginia played #24 Duke on the road and #3 Old Dominion at a neutral site and lost both games.

Duo Combines For Best Shooting Performance
DeMya Walker and Lesley Brown shot a combined 17-17 (1.000) in Virginia’s 102-44 win over Towson on Dec. 11 and recorded the top shooting performance in UVa history. Walker tied Wendy Palmer for the best individual shooting performance in school history with her 9-9 shooting from the field. Brown’s 8-8 performance from the field completed the best shooting performance by a duo in any single game in UVa history.

In Palmer’s 9-9 effort vs. Cleveland State on Nov. 29, 1995, Monick Foote was 5-5 from the field.

In the Towson game, Virginia shot 61.5 percent (40-65) the highest field goal percentage since Jan. 25, 1994 when the team shot 65.5 percent vs. Duke (36-55).

Cavaliers On Radio
All of the Cavaliers games, both home and away, will be broadcast on WINA 1070 AM or its sister station WKAV 1400 AM.

Robby Robinson will call the play-by-play and former Cavalier stand-out Jenny Boucek will add the color commentary.