Women's Hoops Plays at N.C. State

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January 9, 1999

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Cavaliers hope to notch their fourth ACC win tonight when itvisits N.C. State. Virginia has won six of its last eight games. TheCavaliers are 2-3 on the road this season.

Virginia (9-4, 3-1) at N.C. State (8-5, 2-2)

Raleigh, N.C.Reynolds Coliseum (12,400)TV: HTS liveRadio: WINA-1070 AM Virginia posted its third ACC win with a 69-66 victory over Maryland on Friday. DeMya Walker recorded her third double-double of the season (22 points-12 rebounds) in the win. The Cavalliers hit only one three-pointer, the lowest number this season from behind the arc. Virginia was also outrebounded for the fourth straight game. Monick Foote, who has suffered from headaches all week after colliding with Duke’s Michelle Van Gorp in last Monday’s game, is listed as day-to-day. She did not play in the Cavalier’s 69-63 win over Maryland on Friday. Erin Stovall opened the new year with a scoring blitz with a career-high 26 points in the win at Clemson (Jan. 2) and 25 points in the loss at Duke (Jan. 4). Stovall was named the ACC Player of the Week last week 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). DeMya Walker continues to lead the team in scoring (15.8 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg), assists (3.1 apg) and blocked shots (2.9 bpg). Erin Stovall has moved into second place in scoring (14.8 ppg) while Monick Foote ranks third (14.7 ppg). DeMya Walker, Erin Stovall, Monick Foote and Lesley Brown account for two-thirds of the offense. This group collectively averages 51.8 of the 79.5 points the Cavaliers put on the scoreboard.

Series with N.C. State
Tonight’s game is the 47th meeting between the two teams and theseries is tied 23-23. The Cavaliers are 10-11 in Reynolds Coliseum. Last season, the Wolfpack Women swept both games with the Cavaliers. Upuntil State’s 67-59 win in Charlottesville on Jan. 11, 1998, theCavaliers had won 15 straight games in the series.

The Wolfpack Women dominated the first 17 games of the series, winning16 of those games. Since the 1989-90 season, Virginia has won 16 of thelast 19 games including the legendary triple overtime game (123-120) onJan. 12, 1991.

All four members of Virginia’s coaching staff participated in the tripleovertime game–Audra Smith (Virginia) and Jenny Kuziemski (N.C. State)played in that game and Debbie Ryan and Shawn Campbell were on the UVa.coaching staff.

How the Teams Match Up

                                            Virginia    N.C. StatePoints                  79.6         77.2Points Allowed          64.4         66.4Rebounds                39.8         40.4Rebound Margin          +1.2         +4.6FG %                    .443         .469FG% defense             .391         .4083-pt FG %               .282         .281FT %                    .689         .678Assists                 14.5         17.3Turnovers               16.8         18.2Blocks                   6.0          2.1Steals                  11.4          8.6

Ryan Nears 500
Head Coach Debbie Ryan needs only 10 wins to reach the 500-win markfor her career. Ryan has averaged 23 wins per season and enters her22nd season with a career and Virginia record of 490-168.

In the Polls*
The Cavaliers have been ranked every week in either the AP or USAToday poll since Jan. 8, 1984. The Cavaliers have been ranked a total of271 consecutive weeks in one or both of the polls.

Virginia holds the longest active streak of any ACC team in the APpoll–173 weeks. The Cavaliers have been ranked 251 consecutive weeksin the USA Today poll.

* this note does not contain the new AP poll of Jan. 11. It was not available at time of printing.

Ryan Tries New Line-up vs. Maryland
Coach Ryan mixed things up with the starting line-up vs. Maryland onFriday. Katie Tracy made her first career-start at point guard and shejoined Svetlana Volnaya, Lesley Brown, DeMya Walker and Erin Stovall inthe line-up. After the game when asked about her new line-up Ryan said,”I’m not real sure what I’m going to do with the line-up. I wasn’t realhappy with the way we started tonight.”

This was the fifth new line-up Ryan has experimented with. The startingline-up of Volnaya, Lisa Hosac, Walker, Stovall and Robinson is 2-0 thisseason while the line-up of Volnaya, Hosac, Walker, Robinson and Footeis 4-2. Walker is the only player to have started every game thisseason. Stovall has only started five games, but the Cavaliers are 4-1in those games.

Virginia Quick Notes

Virginia had a four-game winning streak come to an end with the 79-61 loss to Auburn at home in the final game of the Nationwide Cavalier Classic. Monick Foote, DeMya Walker and Erin Stovall were named to the All-Tournament team at the Nationwide Cavalier Classic on Dec. 29. Conswella Sparrow of Auburn was also named to the All-Tournament team while teammate Tiffany Krantz was named Most Valuable Player. The loss to Auburn was the worst loss at home since Feb. 28, 1981 when the Cavaliers fell to South Carolina 71-52. It is believed that the defeat is also the last time the Cavaliers lost to an unranked opponent at home. The Cavaliers played two games (Wake Forest, Towson) without 5th-year guard Monick Foote who was side-lined with a pulled right hamstring. Foote returned to action against Radford and responded with a season-high 22 points, 18 of which came in the first half. Monick Foote scored the 1000th point of her career with a 17-foot jump shot at the 10:03 mark of the first half vs. West Virginia on Nov. 15. She became the 17th player in Virginia history to reach the 1000-point plateau. For her career, Foote has averaged 11.8 points per game.

On the Boards
There is a direct correlation between rebounding and winning. Whenthe Cavaliers outrebound their opponent, they are 7-0. When theCavaliers are outrebounded, they are 2-4. The win at Clemson was thefirst time this season the Cavaliers pulled out a win with fewerrebounds than the opponent (45-53). The Cavaliers squeezed out a winover Maryland on Friday despite being outrebounded 41-37.

DeMya Walker leads the team in rebounding with 8.4 rebounds per gamefollowed by Lesley Brown with 4.8 boards per game.

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

The last time Virginia faced back-to-back ranked opponents on the roadwas 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 ata neutral site and lost both games.

Stovall Leads Virginia to Win Over Clemson
Erin Stovall, in only her third start of the season, scored acareer-high 26 points to lead #22 Virginia to a 67-66 win over #10Clemson on Jan. 2. Monick Foote sank two free throws with 22 secondsremaining in overtime to lift the Cavaliers to the win. DeMya Walkerwas held to only two points for 34:30 of the game but scored five pointsin the final 5:30 of regulation. With each field goal in the last 5:30,she tied the game. Walker then scored four of Virginia’s eight points inovertime.

The Cavaliers desperately needed the win to stay in the nationalrankings and continue its streak of appearing in the AP and USA Todaypolls.

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

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

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

Walker Ranks Sixth In Career Rebounds
DeMya Walker continues to climb up the chart in career rebounds. The 6-3 senior has a career average of 7.5 rebounds per game and 795total for her career. She needs 33 more to move ahead of Dawn Bryant infifth place.

    Reb. Player          (years)         G1. 1221  Wendy Palmer  (1993-96)       1262.  955  Heather Burge (1990-93)       1353.  932  Cathy Grimes  (1982-85)       1144.  853  Heidi Burge   (1990-93)       1345.  827  Dawn Bryant   (1986-89)       1236.  795  DeMya Walker  (1996-present)  1067.  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 deadlythree-point shooting combos in UVa history since Foote teamed with ToraSuber several years ago. Foote needs only three more treys to move intosecond place all-time in the three-point field goals made, ahead ofTammi Reiss. Stovall who connected on 32 trifectas last season, holdsonto ninth place with 54 career three-pointers.

    3FGM   Player             (years)           Att. 1.  220   Tora Suber       (1994-97)           666 2.  139   Tammi Reiss      (1989-92)           334 3.  137   Monick Foote     (1995-present)      376 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.   54   Erin Stovall     (1997-present)     119510.   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 third in the ACC with 285 career blocked shots. Sheneeds 14 blocks to move into second place ahead of Peggy Caple (Clemson,1982-85) who recorded 298 blocked shots in her career. The all-timeleader in the ACC is Dawn Royster of North Carolina (1984-87) whotallied 329 blocked shots in her career.

Player, team Years GP Blk Avg.1. Dawn Royster (UNC) 1984-87 110 329 3.02. Peggy Caple (Clemson) 1982-85 119 298 2.53. DeMya Walker (UVa.) 1996- 106 285 2.7

Foote Returns From Injury with Top Performance
Monick Foote returned to the starting line-up on Dec. 21 aftersitting out two games with a pulled right hamstring. She responded withher season-high 22 points in only 22 minutes of action. She shot 8-11from the field and hit three of five from beyond the arc. She playedrelatively pain-free and had her best performance from three-point rangethis season.

The performance was reminiscent of the 1995-96 season opener atPittsburgh when Foote scored 18 points. She had reconstructive surgeryon her right ankle that summer and had not participated in any of theexhibition games in the preseason. She was listed as questionable forthe game against Pitt and she entered five minutes into the contest andreeled off 18 points in the win.

Kravchenko Nets Career-High in Towson Win
Elena Kravchenko scored a career-high 12 points in UVa’s 102-44 winover Towson on Dec. 11. The 6-10 center was 4-5 from the field for herbest ever shooting performance.

Her previous high was seven points vs. Mt. St. Mary’s last year.

Stovall Records Career-High in Arkansas State game
The loss at Arkansas State had a positive note; second-year guardErin Stovall scored a career-high 22 points in the game. She hit athree-pointer at the final buzzer to push her offensive total to 22points. Stovall’s previous career-high was 19 vs. Southern Methodist inthe NCAA Tournament last March.