No. 20 UVa Seeking Fifth-Straight Win Sunday at Wake Forest

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – No. 20 Virginia travels to Wake Forest for a regionally televised Atlantic Coast Conference contest. Sunday’s game begins at 1 p.m. and will air on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network. Mike Hogewood (play-by-play) and Debbie Antonelli (color analyst) have the call.

The game will be broadcast over the airwaves on WINA 1070 in the Charlottesville area with Jay James (play-by-play), Myron Ripley (color analyst) and Larry Johnson (statistician) calling the action. Live statistics and live audio (V Pass) are available at VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia (15-5, 4-2 ACC) is coming off of a 73-60 win over NC State on Wednesday, Jan. 27. ACC Preseason Player of the Year and Associated Press Preseason All-American Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) led the Cavaliers with 26 points.

In 20 games this season, Wright has 13 games of 20 points or more (including a current string of five-straight) and four 30+ point games. Her 39 points at Boston College on Jan. 21 tied for the second-highest total in school history (the UVa school record is 48 points) and is the highest scoring game by an ACC player this year.

She leads the team by averaging 22.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Her scoring average leads the ACC and ranks No. 7 in the nation. With 3.8 steals per game, Wright leads the conference in that category and is third in the nation.

On Jan. 11 vs. Maryland, Wright surpassed Dawn Staley as UVa’s all-time leading scorer. Staley’s 2,135 points from 1989-1992 stood for 17 seasons, but Wright is the new No. 1 with 2,255 points and counting. She is sixth on the ACC’s all-time scoring list and is 31 points away from passing North Carolina’s Ivory Latta (2003-07; 2,285 points) for fifth place. With her 700th-career rebound on Jan. 27 vs. NC State, Monica Wright joined former Cavalier guard Dawn Staley as the only players in UVa history to collect at least 2,000 points, 700 rebounds, 300 steals and 300 assists.

Freshman Lexie Gerson (Fort Washington, Pa.) has earned the starting nod for four-straight games and is coming off an 11-point performance against NC State. Sophomores Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) and Whitny Edwards (Charlotte, N.C.) rank second and third on the team in scoring with 8.1 and 7.9 ppg, respectively.

Britny Edwards (Charlotte, N.C.) has seen increased playing time in the Cavaliers’ last two contests and has averaged 7.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 19.0 minutes per game over those games. She set new career-highs vs. Georgia Tech with eight points and six rebounds.

Wake Forest (12-8, 3-3 ACC) is coming off of a 63-43 win over Clemson on Jan. 24. The Demon Deacons are led by two players that average double figures for scoring – Brittany Waters (13.9 ppg) and Secily Ray (10.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg).

Wake Forest head coach Mike Petersen is in his sixth season and has compiled a 84-86 record with the Demon Deacons. His career record stands at 272-213.

Virginia holds a commanding 60-2 advantage in the all-time series with Wake Forest, including a 27-1 advantage in Winston-Salem. The two Wake Forest victories in the series were on Jan. 5, 2003 (77-66 at Wake Forest) and Jan. 13, 1978 (60-59 in Charlottesville). Virginia has won nine games in a row vs. the Demon Deacons.

Up next, Virginia returns to John Paul Jones Arena for a Thursday (Feb. 4) game vs. Clemson. Tip-off is 7 p.m.