Wright's Career High 39 And Kellum's Game-Winner Lift UVa Over Boston College, 70-68

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Monica Wright scored a career-high 39 points and Paulisha Kellum scored her only field goal of the game with four seconds left to lift No. 22 Virginia to a 70-68 road victory at Boston College Thursday night.

With the win, Virginia improved to 13-5, 2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boston College’s record went to 11-8, 2-2 in the league.

Wright’s 39 points ties for the second-highest scoring total in Virginia history. The last 39-point game was by current assistant coach and former All-American Cavalier Wendy Palmer vs. Maryland on Jan. 25, 1995. The school record is 48 points by Mimi McKinney in 1998.

Wright also continued her climb up the ACC’s all-time scoring list, and is now No. 8 with 2,206 career points.

Virginia led 34-30 at halftime after a back-and-forth first stanza. In the second half, the Eagles rallied to built their largest lead of the game, 55-46, with 10:42 left to play. From there, UVa went on an 8-0 run to pull within one, 55-54, on a lay-up by Ariana Moorer with 8:50 left. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the half, and the second-to-last tie of the game came at 66-66 with one minute left in the game.

After two free throws by Wright with 35 seconds left to put UVa up, 68-66, Boston College’s Brittanny Johnson hit a lay-up with 16 seconds left to knot the score at 68 apiece.

With time winding down, Kellum drove the lane and hit the game-winning shot.

Chelsea Shine finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for Virginia, while Telia McCall added six points and four rebounds. Moorer finished with seven rebounds.

BC had four scorers in double figures, led by 13 points each by Johnson and Mickel Picco.

Up next for Virginia, Sunday is National Girls and Women in Sports Day at John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia hosts Georgia Tech at 1 p.m., and former Virginia rower and Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Shoop will be honored at halftime.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day brings national attention to the achievements of female athletes and to issues facing girls and women in sport. Sunday’s event is co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Athletic Department and the University of Virginia Women’s Center.

With the United States women’s eight at the 2009 World Championships in Poznan, Poland, Shoop and the U.S. crew won their fourth-consecutive gold medal. A gold medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Shoop has rowed with the U.S. women’s eight and won a gold medal at four-straight international championships (2006 Worlds, 2007 Worlds, 2008 Olympics and 2009 Worlds). She was a two-time All-America selection at Virginia in 2003 and 2004.