Virginia Plays Valentine's Day at Boston College
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| Virginia (15-8, 7-5 ACC) at Boston College (9-14, 3-9 ACC) |
Date and Time Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Location Chestnut Hill, Mass. | Conte Forum
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Feb. 12, 2013
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-8, 7-5 ACC) plays at Boston College (9-14, 3-9 ACC) on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
The Cavaliers defeated Boston College, 69-57, on Jan. 24 in Charlottesville. Virginia held a 33-27 lead at halftime. Coming out of the break, Boston College did not score a field goal for the first 12:51 of the second period, starting the half going 0-for-16 from the field and allowing Virginia to cement a double-digit lead. The Eagles cut the Cavalier lead to single digits, 65-56, on a three-pointer with 1:42 left in the game, but the Cavaliers held on for the 12-point victory.
Virginia holds an 11-2 advantage in the all-time series and has only lost once in Chestnut Hill, 57-43, on Jan. 26, 2006. The Cavaliers defeated the Eagles, 72-41, in the first round of the 2012 ACC Tournament, the most lopsided game in the series that dates back to the 1983-84 season.
Virginia is second in the ACC in free throw shooting efficiency at 73.6 percent, trailing only Boston College which leads the ACC at 74.8 percent, though Virginia has hit 90 more free throws than BC, going 345-of-469 to the Eagles’ 255-of-341. The two are neck-in-neck in field goal shooting percentage as well with BC shooting 40.5 percent from the field while Virginia is making 40.3 percent of its field goal attempts.
Defensively, the two teams have been on opposite ends of the spectrum in conference contests this season. Virginia is holding ACC opponents to 59.4 points per game while BC is allowing opponents to score 71.5 points per game. Opponents are shooting 37.0 percent against Virginia and 45.0 percent against BC.
Last Sunday, Boston College mounted a second half comeback that fell short in the final seconds, as the Eagles lost at Wake Forest, 61-59. Junior Katie Zenevitch led BC with a career-high 24 points and seven rebounds while Kerri Shields finished with nine points, four rebounds and four steals. Freshman Nicole Boudreau finished with seven points and three steals.
The Cavaliers are coming off a 50-47 victory at Virginia Tech. The Hokies went 7-of-10 from three-point range in the first half, putting the Cavaliers in a 30-24 halftime deficit. Virginia took its first lead of the second half, 48-47, on a fade-away jumper by Ataira Franklin (Jr., Bowie, Md.) with 2:59 left in the game. Lockdown defense in the final three minutes helped the Cavaliers secure their third win in the last four road contests.
After shooting 86.9 percent (60-of-69) combined in the three previous games, Virginia had its worst free throw shooting percentage game of the season, making 10-of-20 at Virginia Tech.
Franklin and Telia McCall (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) each scored 12 points in the Virginia Tech game. McCall, who scored eight points with 11 rebounds last Friday against Duke, pulled in eight rebounds at Virginia Tech. In her last three games, McCall is averaging 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while going 20-of-22 from the free throw line. McCall is ranked seventh in the ACC in rebounding, averaging 8.2 rebounds per game.
Franklin has led the team in scoring five of the last six games and has scored in double-digits in each of her last six games. Franklin is averaging 14.4 points per game in ACC contests this season, ranking 10th among all players in the conference.
Sarah Imovbioh (So., Abuja, Nigeria) played 26 minutes at Virginia Tech, her most time on the floor since playing 27 minutes in the season-opener against JMU. Imovbioh scored eight points, going 3-for-4 from the field, with 11 rebounds, her first double-digit rebounding effort against an ACC opponent.
The Cavaliers are 5-4 in road games this season and have won three of their last four games away from John Paul Jones Arena. Kelsey Wolfe (Jr., Germantown, Md.) is averaging 14.9 points per game in road contests this season.
This is the 10th time in program history that Virginia has played a game on Valentine’s Day. The Cavaliers are 6-3 on Feb. 14. Their last Valentine’s Day game was a 93-42 home victory over Longwood in 2006.
After the game at Boston College, the Cavaliers will return home to host No. 7 Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN2. All three of the Cavaliers’ remaining regular-season home games will be televised with the Monday, Feb. 25 Wake Forest game and the Sunday, March 3 Florida State games airing on the ACC Regional Sports Networks.