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Dec. 1, 1999

Virginia (2-2) at William & Mary (2-2)
Dec. 2, 1999
7:00 p.m.
William & Mary Hall
Williamsburg, Va.
Radio: Wina 1070 AM
TV: none

The Cavaliers return to their homestate after capturing third place in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Hawaii last weekend. Virginia posted a 2-1 record with wins over Grambling State and Washington and nearly beat Texas after erasing a 19-point deficit. Schuye LaRue and Erin Stovall were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The game vs. William & Mary will be the 10th game in the series which dates back to the 1974-75 season. Virginia holds a 9-0 advantage in the series and this is the Cavaliers’ third trip to Williamsburg. Virginia’s last trip to Williamsburg was on Dec. 5, 1981 and the Cavaliers brought home a 60-43 win. The last time these two teams met was on Nov. 16, 1997 and the Virginia posted a 71-57 win in Charlottesville.

The Tribe is the first of two teams from the Colonial Athletic Association that Virginia will face this year. The Cavaliers will travel to Norfolk, Va. on Dec. 10 to face CAA powerhouse Old Dominion.

LaRue Named ACC Rookie of the Week
Schuye LaRue was named the ACC Rookie of the Week after her performance at the Rainbow Wahine Classic. In the three-game tournament, LaRue averaged 19.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and was 24-39 from the floor for a shooting percentage of 61.5 percent. In the Washington game, LaRue was a perfect 9-9 from the floor, 1-1 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line. She tied the school record for field goal percentage, a mark that was set in 1995 by Wendy Palmer and matched last season by DeMya Walker. LaRue was also named to the All-Tournament Team at the Wahine Classic along with teammate Erin Stovall.

Mitchelson May Play against Tribe
Junior Dean’na Mitchelson suffered a dislocated right shoulder in the Nov. 21 game vs. St. Joseph’s. She had earned a starting position in the season opener and played only two minutes before the injury occurred. Mitchelson did not play in any of the games in Hawaii, but did dress and warmed up with the team in the last two games of the tournament.

Tough Start For the Cavaliers
With the Cavaliers’ 2-2 start this season, it marks the first time since the 1977-78 season, that the Cavaliers have had a .500 record after their first four games of the season. The 1977-78 season was Head Coach Debbie Ryan’s first season as head coach at Virginia and the team finished 8-17.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Cavaliers who face three ranked teams in its next four outings. After the William & Mary game, Virginia travels to Duke on Dec. 5, travels to Old Dominion on Dec. 10 and hosts Virginia Tech on Dec. 20. Duke is not currently ranked in the AP poll, but holds onto 19th place in the USA Today poll. ODU is ranked 14th in the AP and 20th in the USA Today poll, while Virginia Tech is 21st in the AP poll and 24th in the USA Today poll.The lone unranked opponent for the Cavaliers during this stretch is Loyola who visits Charlottesville on Dec. 7.

Homecoming For Stovall
The trip to Hawaii was a homecoming of sorts for Erin Stovall who graduated from Honolulu’s Iolani High school in 1997. She is originally from Irvine, Calif., but spent her senior year at Iolani High School. She was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Hawaii and named to the Nissan Hawaii High School Hall of Honor for the sport of basketball. In addition, she was a stand-out track athlete and earned Hawaii’s Track Athlete of the Year in 1997 and was named the Top Female Performer at the Panahou Relays that same year. She was the state champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump and held and still holds the the state records in the 100 hurdles and the 200 meters.

In the Hawaii tournament, Stovall scored 21 points to lead Virginia to the 100-79 win. Against Texas, she scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds and against Washington, she scored 13 points and had three rebounds and four assists. She was named to the All-Tournament team.

Rainbow Wahine Classic Recap
Virginia 100, Grambling 79: Virginia scored 62 points in the second half and powered its way to a 100-79 win over Grambling State in the first round of the Rainbow Wahine Classic. Junior guard Erin Stovall led the Cavaliers with 21 points. Five Cavaliers scored in double figures as the Cavaliers improve to 1-1 overall. Freshman Schuye LaRue had her second straight game in double figures with 12 points for the Cavaliers.

Virginia led by as much as 12 points with 10:30 remaining in the first half before Grambling State (1-1) chipped away at the lead and overtook the Cavaliers 30-29 on a three-pointer by Natalie Thomas with 5:07 remaining in the half. The Tigers held the lead for the remaining time until Stovall hit a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to tie the game 38-38 at the break.

The Cavaliers opened the second half with lay-ups by LaRue, Stovall and a jumper and two free throws by senior guard Renee Robinson that began a 20-8 run. Grambling went scoreless on its first six possessions of the second half and committed three straight turnovers which the Cavaliers converted into four points. The Cavaliers led by as much as 26 points with 3:13 left in the game.

Junior forward Svetlana Volnaya added 12 points for the Cavaliers, junior center Elena Kravchenko scored 11 points and Robinson ended the night with 11 points. Virginia outrebounded Grambling State 60-47. The Cavaliers held the Tigers to 28.9 percent shooting from the floor (22-76) for the game. Virginia shot 50.0 percent in the second half (21-42) and 44.7 percent for the game (34-76).Lakinya Currie led Grambling State with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

Texas 78, Virginia 73: Virginia erased a 19-point second half deficit and took Texas down to the wire but lost 78-73 in the semifinals. Freshman Schuye LaRue led Virginia with 24 points and 14 rebounds as the Cavaliers record fell to 1-2.

The Cavaliers opened the game with a 5-0 run, but Texas (3-1) scored six straight points to take the lead at the 12:30 mark of the first half. The Longhorns held Virginia scoreless for the next 4:41 as they increased their lead to 23-17 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. Junior Chalois Lias broke Virginia’s scoring drought with a lay-up and was fouled. Lias converted the foul shot to bring Virginia to within 23-21, but then the Cavaliers missed seven successive putback attempts off a missed Renee Robinson three-point attempt and Virginia could only sink two more field goals the rest of the half. Texas closed out the half on a 12-8 run to put them up 41-30 at the break.

Texas continued its scoring run to start the second half as they put together an 16-8 run and held a 57-38 lead, its largest lead of the game, with 13:30 remaining.

Virginia started its comeback bid when senior Lisa Hosac started a 18-2 run with an offensive rebound and a lay-up at the 13:10 mark. The Texas offense sputtered over the next 12 minutes, scoring their only two points on free throws.

Junior Svetlana Volnaya scored eight points in the Virginia run and hit the lay-up that tied the game 59-59 with 6:10 left in the game. Lias then made the front end of a one-and-one with 5:56 left to give Virginia the lead 60-59, its first lead since the 19:22 mark of the first half. Texas tied the game at 60-60 on a free throw by Asha Hill with 5:08 left and took the lead for good when Tracy Cook sank two free throws with 5:03 left. Virginia could only hit one of nine field goals attempts in the last 2:45 of the game.

Virginia shot 33.3 percent for the game (25-75) and Texas shot 40.3 percent (25-62). Volnaya ended the game with 15 points and Erin Stovall had 14. Edwina Brown led Texas with 29 points and JoRuth and 14 points and 11 rebounds. Texas outrebounded Virginia 52-47.

Virginia 85, Washington 64: Freshman Schuye LaRue had a perfect night from the floor to lead Virginia to a 85-64 win over Washington. With the win, Virginia takes home third place in the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

LaRue was 9-9 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line which ties the school record for shooting percentage, held by Wendy Palmer (1995) and DeMya Walker (1999). The Cavaliers shot a season-best 52.7 percent from the field and had 25 assists on 29 field goals made. Virginia also shot 95.0 from the foul line (19-20).

The Cavaliers opened the game on a 19-5 run with 10 points from senior Lisa Hosac and five from LaRue. The Cavaliers used full court pressure that caused four Washington turnovers in the first five minutes of the game which Virginia converted into eight points. Hosac ended the night a career-high three, three-point field goals and 19 points. Junior Erin Stovall had 13 points while senior Renee Robinson had nine points and eight assists.

Megan Franza led Washington (2-4) with 17 points and teammate Kellie O’Neill led all players with 10 rebounds. For the game, Washington shot 36.9 percent from the field and outrebounded the Cavaliers 36-31.

Virginia Falls To St. Joseph’s in Season Opener 73-61Virginia had an less than favorable beginning to the new season when it lost to St. Joseph’s 73-61 in the season opener on Nov. 21. It was the first time the Cavaliers have lost a season opener at home. Virginia falls to 0-1 while St. Joseph’s record stands at 1-0.

The two teams battled to a 34-34 tie at half-time with the lead changing hands six times in the first stanza. Virginia scored the first bucket of the second half, but quickly fell behind by 17 points over the next nine minutes on a 15-2 run. The Hawks held the Cavaliers scoreless for a span of 4:31 seconds during that stretch and never allowed Virginia to gain momentum. The Hawks shot 50.0 percent from the field in the second half (9-18) while Virginia could only muster 33.3 percent from the field (12-36). For the game, the Hawks shot 42.2 percent from the field (19-45) and Virginia shot 39.7 percent (27-68).St. Joseph’s made 28 of 37 free throws while Virginia converted four of seven.

Cheryl Kulesa scored 18 points to lead St. Joseph’s and Angela Zampella had 17 points while teammates Jana Lichnerova had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Susan Moran contributed 13 points.

For the Cavaliers, Schuye LaRue led the team with 18 points and seven rebounds. Elena Kravchenko recorded 13 points and Lisa Hosac had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Cavaliers Spilt Exhibition Games
Virginia won one and lost one of two exhibition games in the preseason. The Cavaliers lost to the USA National Team 44-96 on Nov. 12 and then defeated the Vologda Russia team 100-54 on Nov. 16.

USA Game: Lisa Leslie had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Dawn Staley made her return University Hall as the U.S. women’s national team bolted to an early lead and beat up on Virginia 96-44 Friday night.

Natalie Williams added 13 points, Katie Smith 12, Yolanda Griffith 11 and Ruthie Bolton Holifield 10 for Team USA. Staley, a two-time Naismith Award-winner at Virginia in the early 1990s, added five points and nine assists in 22 minutes. The all-star team, barnstorming the country playing top college programs in a tune-up for the 2000 Olympics, led 50-21 at halftime and dominated every facet of the game. It outshot Virginia 56.7 percent to 30.6 percent, got 41 rebounds to the Cavaliers’ 24 and forced 26 turnovers while committing just 14.

Renee Robinson, playing in Staley’s point guard spot for the Cavaliers, led Virginia with 11 points and three assists, but also committed seven turnovers.

Elena Kravchenko added 10 points for the Cavaliers.

Vologda Game: Five Cavaliers scored in double figures, led by Erin Stovall’s 21 points, as Virginia defeated Vologda Russia 100-54 tonight in University Hall. Telisha Quarles added 16 points on a perfect night from the field (6-6) and Lisa Hosac contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds in the effort. Renee Robinson connected for 14 points and Dean’na Mitchelson added 12 points.

The Cavaliers ran off 10 straight points mid-way through the first half and cruised on to a 61-28 half-time lead. Virginia shot 65 percent from the field in the first stanza while holding Vologda to 27 percent. For the game, Virginia shot 56 percent from the field (39-69) while Vologda managed only 27 percent (17-63).

Marina Kress led Vologda with 14 points.

Cavaliers On TV

Jan. 17 Virginia at N.C. State 7:30 p.m. (HTS)
Jan. 30 Duke at Virginia 12:30 p.m. (HTS)
Feb. 7 Virginia at N. Carolina 7:30 p.m. (HTS)
Feb. 20 N.C. State at Virginia 2:00 p.m. (ESPN2)

all times are Eastern

The Cavalier’s record when they:

led at half-time 1-0
trailed at half-time 0-1
were tied at half-time 1-1
went into overtime 0-0
shot 60% or better 0-0
shot 50% or better 1-0
shot less than 50% 1-0
shot less than 40% 0-2
opponent shot 50% or better 0-0
opponent shot less than 50% 0-2
opponent shot less than 40% 2-0
had higher FG% than opponent 2-0
had lower FG% than opponent 0-2
out-rebounded opponent 2-0
were out-rebounded by opponent 0-2
had same rebounds as opponent 0-0
had more offensive rebounds 2-1
had fewer offensive rebounds 0-0
had same offensive rebounds 0-1
had fewer turnovers than opponent 0-1
had more turnovers than opponent 1-0
had same amount of turnovers 1-1
shot more FTs than opponent 1-0
shot fewer FTs than opponent 1-2
shot same number of FTs as opponent 0-0
had game decided by 10 points or less 0-0
had game decided by 5 points or less 0-1
scored 100+ points 1-0
scored 90-99 points 0-0
scored 80-89 points 1-0
scored 70-79 points 0-1
scored 60-69 points 0-1
scored 59 or less points 0-0
leading scorer is LaRue 1-2
leading scorer is Stovall 1-0

Starting Line-ups:

Hosac,Mitchelson,Stovall,Robinson,Quarles 0-1
Hosac, LaRue, Stovall, Robinson, Quarles 1-0
Hosac, Lias, LaRue, Stovall, Robinson 0-1
Hosac, Volnaya, LaRue, Stovall, Robinson 1-0

Virginia’s record on:

Sunday 1-1
Monday 0-0
Tuesday 0-0
Wednesday 0-0
Thursday 0-0
Friday 1-0
Saturday 0-1

Superlatives

                 Virginia Highs          Virginia Lows
Margin of Victory 21 vs. Grambling St, Wash 21 vs. Grambling St, Wash
Margin of Defeat 12 vs. St. Joseph’s 5 vs. Texas
Points 100 vs. Grambling State 61 vs. St. Joseph’s
1st Half Points 49 vs. Washington 30 vs. Texas
2nd Half Points 62 vs. Grambling State 27 vs. St. Joseph’s
FGM 34 vs. Grambling State 25 vs. Texas
FGA 76 vs. Grambling State 55 vs. Washington
FG Pct. .527 vs. Washington .333 vs. Texas
3-FGM 8 vs. Washington 3 vs. three opponents
3-FGA 22 vs. St. Joseph’s 17 vs. Texas, Washington
3-FG Pct. .471 vs. Washington .136 vs. St. Joseph’s
FTM 29 vs. Grambling State 4 vs. St. Joseph’s
FTA 41 vs. Grambling State 7 vs. St. Joseph’s
FT Pct. .950 vs. Washington .571 vs. St. Joseph’s
OReb 22 vs. Grambling State, Texas 7 vs. Washington
DReb 38 vs. Grambling State 22 vs. St. Joseph’s
Rebounds 60 vs. Grambling State 30 vs. St. Joseph’s
Assists 25 vs. Washington 12 vs. Texas
Turnovers 23 vs. Washington 9 vs. St. Joseph’s
Blocks 5 vs. Texas 3 vs. three opponents
Steals 16 vs. Washington 6 vs. St. Joseph’s
               Opponent Highs          Opponent Lows
Points 78 by Grambling State, Texas 64 by Washington
1st Half Points 41 by Texas 34 by St. Joseph’s
2nd Half Points 41 by Grambling State 27 by Washington
FGM 25 by Texas 19 by St. Joseph’s
FGA 76 by Grambling State 45 by St. Joseph’s
FG Pct. .422 by St. Joseph’s .289 by Grambling State
3-FGM 9 by Grambling State 1 by Texas
3-FGA 36 by Grambling State 8 by Texas
3-FG Pct. .438 by St. Joseph’s .125 by Texas
FTM 28 by St. Joseph’s 13 by Washington
FTA 38 by Grambling State, Texas 16 by Washington
FT Pct. .813 by Washington .684 by Grambling State
OReb 20 by Grambling State 8 by St. Joseph’s
DReb 36 by Texas 19 by Washington
Rebounds 52 by Texas 36 by Washington
Assists 15 by Grambling State 10 by St. Joseph’s
Turnovers 24 by Washington 15 by St. Joseph’s
Blocks 3 by Grambling State, Texas 0 by St. Joseph’s
Steals 12 by Grambling State 2 by St. Joseph’s
Virginia Individual Highs        Opponent Individual Highs
Points 24 by LaRue (vs. Texas) 29 by Brown (Texas)
FGM 9 by LaRue (vs. SJU, Texas, Wash.) 11 by Brown (Texas)
FGA 18 by two players 26 by Evans (Grambling St.)
3-FGM 3 by Hosac (Wash.) 5 by Evans (Grambling St.)
3-FGA 7 by Stovall (vs. Texas) 23 by Evans (Grambling St.)
FTM 6 by Volnaya ( vs. Texas) 9 by two players
FTA 8 by LaRue (vs. Texas) 12 by Currie (Grambling St.)
OReb 9 by LaRue (vs. Texas) 8 by Currie (Grambling St.)
DReb 7 by Kravchenko (vs. Grambling St.) 8 by two players
Rebounds 14 by LaRue (vs. Texas) 15 by Currie (Grambling St.)
Assists 8 by Robinson (vs. Wash.) 6 by two players
Turnovers 5 by two players 6 by Zampella (SJU)
Blocks 4 by LaRue (vs. Texas) 2 by Ryan (Texas)
Steals 5 by Robinson (vs. Wash.) 4 by two players
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