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CHARLOTTESVILLE The 19th-ranked Virginia women’s basketball team faces Illinois Thursday in the 2008 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tip-off from Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill., is 7:30 p.m. (CT), and the game will air on the Big Ten Network with Leah Secondo (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (analyst) calling the action.
Additionally, the game will be broadcast over the airwaves on WINA 1070 in the Charlottesville area with Jay James, Myron Ripley and Larry Johnson calling the action. Live audio can be accessed on the internet with V Pass. Live statistics are available at VirginiaSports.com.
Virginia (5-2) is coming off of a 2-1 runner-up finish at the WBCA Classic over Thanksgiving Weekend in Milwaukee. The Cavaliers defeated Utah (65-57) and host Marquette (76-71) and fell to Gonzaga (69-62). Monica Wright was named to the all-tournament team.
Wright, recently named a Wooden Award candidate and to the preseason All-ACC team, leads the team in scoring at 21.4 points per game. She leads the league in that category and has had two 30+ point games this season (35 points on Nov. 17 at Tennessee and 31 points on Nov. 29 at Marquette). Wright, the ACC Player of the Week on Nov. 24, also leads the team in steals (3.4 per game).
Center Aisha Mohammed is the only player in the ACC averaging a double-double (as of Dec. 3) with 13.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Mohammed has tallied four double-doubles this season and 18 in her two-year career.
Several Cavaliers are at or near the top of the ACC rankings. In statistics as of Dec. 3, two UVa players rank in the top-20 in scoring in the league. Wright leads the league at 21.4 ppg, followed by Mohammed at No. 15 (13.0 ppg).
Wright ranks fourth in the league in steals (3.4 per game), Mohammed ranks first in rebounding (10.7 per game) and Ariana Moorer ranks tied for seventh in assists (4.0 per game).
Illinois is 3-4 on the year and fell to ACC opponent Maryland in its last outing, 79-52, Nov. 28 in Cancun, Mexico. Jenna Smith leads the team by averaging 20.0 points per game, while Lacey Simpson adds 12.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
Thursday will be the fourth meeting between Illinois and Virginia and UVa leads the series, 3-0. The last meeting was a 72-56 Cavalier victory on March 22, 2003, in the NCAA Tournament.
The ACC/Big Ten Women’s Basketball Challenge matches 11 teams from each conference in head-to-head competition traditionally on the first Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving, following the men’s basketball ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Last year, the ACC won eight of the 11 inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge games.