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CHARLOTTESVILLE The fourth-seeded and 25th-ranked Virginia women’s basketball team will face No. 5 Georgia Tech Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. Tip-off from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., is 11 a.m., and the game will be televised on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (Comcast SportsNet, FOX Sports South, NESN).
Additionally, live audio is available through V Pass and live statistics can be accessed through VirginiaSports.com. The game will air on the radio on WINA 1070 AM in the Charlottesville area with Jay James, Myron Ripley and Larry Johnson calling the action.
Virginia has won three ACC Tournament Championships (1990, 1992, 1993). In all games at the ACC Tournament, Virginia has compiled a 31-27 overall record since the inaugural ACC women’s basketball league championship (1978 in Charlottesville).
Virginia is 19-9 all-time in quarterfinal games, 6-14 all-time in semifinal games and 3-3 in championship games.
At last year’s tournament, No. 8 seed Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating No. 9 Clemson, but fell to top-seeded Duke.
It is a resurgent for Virginia (22-8, 10-4 ACC), which on Monday received its first Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25 ranking (No. 25) since the preseason poll of 2003. The Cavaliers have reached the 20-win plateau during the regular-season for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
Senior point guard and third team All-ACC selection Sharne Zoll became the Atlantic Coast Conference’s all-time assists leader on Feb. 21 vs. Clemson, breaking the 16-year-old record held by Dawn Staley (729; 1989-92). Heading into the ACC Tournament, Zoll has dished out 757 assists and is averaging 6.3 per game.
Monica Wright, a second team All-ACC, ACC all-defensive team and reigning ACC Player of the Week, continues to lead the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor. She leads the team and ranks second in the ACC in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game. Last year’s ACC Rookie of the Year, Wright was also selected as a member of the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list. Wright scored her 1,000th-career point on Feb. 28 at Boston College, becoming the third Cavalier to do so this year (Lyndra Littles and Zoll are the others).
Down low for Virginia, third team All-ACC selection Littles and honorable mention selection Aisha Mohammed have emerged as one of the strongest frontcourts in the nation. Littles ranks second on the team and seventh in the ACC in scoring (16.4 ppg), while Mohammed has registered 12 double-doubles on the year and nearly averages one (13.0 points, 9.3 rebounds per game).
Rounding out the Cavaliers’ starting lineup is sophomore Paulisha Kellum. While her reputation can be described as underrated, she recently exploded offensively at No. 4/4 Maryland on Feb. 8 for 23 points and averages 9.6 ppg.