No. 21 Virginia Travels To Miami For Thursday Night Match-Up

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – No. 21 Virginia visits Miami for a Thursday night game at BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla. Tip-off is 7 p.m., and live statistics and live audio (V Pass) are available at VirginiaSports.com.

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.

The game with Miami will feature the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top three scorers in UVa’s Monica Wright (22.7 points per game) and Miami’s Riquna Williams (19.9 points per game) and Shenise Johnson (18.1 points per game).

Virginia (17-6, 6-3 ACC) is coming off of an 82-68 victory at Maryland on Monday (Feb. 8), the Cavaliers’ first victory in College Park since the 2002-03 season.

ACC Preseason Player of the Year and Associated Press Preseason All-American Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) scored 34 points for Virginia vs. the Terrapins, and moved into fourth place on the ACC’s all-time scoring list.

In 23 games this season, Wright has 15 games of 20 points or more and five 30+ point games, both of which lead the ACC. 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 22.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Her scoring average leads the ACC and ranks No. 8 in the nation. With 3.8 steals per game, Wright leads the conference in that category and is second in the nation.

Sophomores Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) and Whitny Edwards (Charlotte, N.C.) rank second and third on the team in scoring with 8.2 and 7.7 ppg, respectively.

Miami (16-7, 3-5 ACC) is coming off of back-to-back victories over North Carolina (80-69 on Feb. 4) and SIU Edwardsville (85-60 on Feb. 7). The Hurricanes are receiving votes in both national polls.

The Hurricanes are led by Riquna Williams and Shenise Johnson, who rank second and third, respectively, in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring at 19.9 and 18.1 points per game.

Miami head coach Katie Meier is in her fifth season in Coral Gables and has compiled a 66-77 record.

Virginia leads the all-time series with Miami, 6-1, including a 3-0 margin in Coral Gables. Winners of five-straight in the series, Virginia has not lost to the Hurricanes since Feb. 10, 2005 (66-60 at University Hall).

Up next, Virginia hosts North Carolina on Monday, Feb. 15, in a nationally televised (ESPN2) contest at John Paul Jones Arena.