Story Links


CHARLOTTESVILLE
Virginia travels to Comcast Center in College Park, Md., for its second meeting of the year with the Maryland Terrapins. The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (Comcast SportsNet, Fox Sports Net South, Sun Sports, New England Sports Network), with Mike Hogewood and Charlene Curtis calling the action.

Additionally, live audio will be available through V Pass and the game will air on WINA (1070 AM) in the Charlottesville area with Jay James, Myron Ripley and Larry Johnson calling the game.

Virginia (17-5, 5-1 ACC) faces its fifth ranked opponent of the season, No. 4 Maryland, in a battle of one-loss teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. The Cavaliers have won 11 of their last 12 games, are off to their best start since the 2004-05 season and are 5-1 in the league for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

Maryland (24-2, 8-1) is coming off of an overtime win at Virginia Tech, 74-71, on Feb. 4. Their last loss was a 97-86 double-overtime setback at North Carolina on Jan. 26.

This will be the second meeting of the season between Virginia and Maryland. On Jan. 18 at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia led for much of the game but eventually faltered down the stretch and dropped a 74-62 contest.

In the all-time series with Maryland, Virginia leads, 40-28, but the Terrapins have won five straight. The last Cavalier victory was on Feb. 20, 2005 (63-61 in Charlottesville).

The Cavaliers are receiving votes in both national polls. Under head coach Debbie Ryan, Virginia has beaten 42 opponents ranked ahead of it at the time of the meeting. The highest-ranked team an unranked UVa team has beaten was No. 3 NC State (80-73, Jan. 17, 2000).

Senior point guard Sharne Zoll has emerged as one of the best point guards in the nation this season. She is approaching the ACC’s all-time assists record, and needs eight assists to become just the third league player to dish out 700 career assists. No. 1 on the list is former UVa great Dawn Staley (729) and No. 2 is former North Carolina point guard Nikki Teasley (728). Zoll averages 5.6 helpers per game and leads the league in assist/turnover ratio.

Sophomore Monica Wright leads the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor. She leads the team and ranks third in the ACC in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game. The reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, Wright has been named the conference’s player of the week once this year and was also selected as a member of the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list.

Maryland is led by leading scorers Kristi Toliver (17.1 ppg, 7.9 apg), Marissa Coleman (16.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and Crystal Langhorne (16.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg). Head coach Brenda Frese is in her sixth season in College Park.

Up next for the Cavaliers is a Sunday home game against Florida State. The game is part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day at the University of Virginia. Members of Charlottesville’s Women in Sports organization (WinS) will be recognized at halftime. Tip-off from John Paul Jones Arena is 2 p.m.

Print Friendly Version