Virginia Set For ACC Tournament First Round Match-Up With Wake Forest

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The eighth-seeded Virginia women’s basketball team opens play at the 2011 ACC Tournament Thursday (March 3) vs. ninth-seeded Wake Forest. Tip-off from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., is scheduled for 3 p.m., and the contest will be televised by the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (Comcast SportsNet in the Charlottesville area).

Additionally, the game will air locally on WINA 1070 AM with Jay James, Myron Ripley and Larry Johnson calling the action. That audio broadcast is available on the Internet with a subscription to V Pass at VirginiaSports.com. Live statistics are also available at VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia (16-14, 5-9 ACC) defeated Virginia Tech, 73-71, in its regular-season finale on Sunday (Feb. 27) to finish in a tie for seventh place in the ACC standings. By virtue of a tiebreaker procedure, UVa was awarded the No. 8 seed.

Junior guard Ariana Moorer (Woodbridge, Va.) was named the ACC’s Sixth Player of the Year earlier this week. Moorer leads the Cavaliers in scoring despite starting just eight games and helps the Virginia bench average 26.1 points per game.

Moorer averages 9.5 points per game and 3.1 assists per game.

Another accolade that was awarded by the conference office was the 2011 ACC All-Freshmen team, and UVa guard Ataira Franklin (Bowie, Md.) was part of the five-member team.

Entering the ACC Tournament, Franklin has scored in double digits in eight-consecutive contests and was named the ACC Rookie of the Week for her performances against Florida State (16 points), NC State (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Maryland (11 points, eight rebounds).

Franklin has posted two double-doubles this season and is averaging 8.9 points per game. Her career-high was a 19-point performance at Clemson on Jan. 30.

Virginia is 33-30 all-time at the conference tournament, 4-1 all-time in the tournament’s first round and has won three tournament titles (1990, 1992, 1993).

UVa has not advanced to the title game since 1994. Last season, Virginia was ousted in the quarterfinals by NC State, 66-59.

Since 1978, Virginia and Wake Forest have met six times and Virginia holds a 6-0 record in those games. The last meeting was at the 2000 conference championship (first round, UVa 72, Wake Forest 47).

Wake Forest earned the ninth seed at the ACC Tournament after finishing the regular season with a 14-16 overall record and 5-9 league mark.

Wake Forest’s leading scorer is Brittany Waters (11.9 points per game), who was named the league’s final ACC Player of the Week on Feb. 28.

In the regular-season meeting between the teams on Feb. 3 at John Paul Jones Arena, UVa defeated Wake Forest, 73-46.

UVa leads the all-time series with Wake Forest, 61-3.

The winner of Thursday’s first-round game would advance to face No. 1 seed Duke on Friday at 3 p.m.