Virginia Plays Thursday at Clemson

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Date and Time Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Location Clemson, S.C. | Littlejohn Coliseum
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Feb. 20, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-10, 7-7 ACC) plays at Clemson (7-18, 3-11 ACC) on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.

This will be the lone meeting of the regular season between the two teams. Virginia is 38-29 in the all-time series but the Tigers are 15-14 in home games against the Cavaliers. UVa has won nine of the last 10 contests, with Clemson winning 84-74 on its home court on Jan. 30, 2011. In the last meeting between the two, Virginia earned a 68-36 victory last season at John Paul Jones Arena.

Clemson overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Virginia Tech, 51-46, Sunday and moved into 11th place in the ACC. Natiece Ford finished the game with 15 points, including scoring nine during Clemson’s deciding 16-2 run.

The Cavaliers closed out January winning five of six games (Jan. 10-27), but have started February dropping five of their last six games. The UVa offense has been held to 50 or fewer points each of the last five games, including its victory at Virginia Tech. However, the Cavaliers are 5-5 in their last 10 games, keeping pace with Miami, which is currently one game ahead of UVa in the competition for fifth place in the ACC. The Hurricanes are also 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Cavaliers also haven’t lost any ground to NC State, the team currently in seventh place, which is also 5-5 in the last 10 games. Clemson has won three of its last seven, including two wins over 12th-place Virginia Tech.

Virginia will be without the services of its second-leading scorer, Kelsey Wolfe (Jr., Germantown, Md.), for the remainder of the season. Wolfe sustained an injury to her right knee 5:28 into the Maryland game and will have surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Wolfe, who averaged 2.8 points in her first two seasons, was averaging 10.6 points per game this season, making 29 three-pointers, ranking second in steals (45) and third in assists (54).

Ataira Franklin (Jr., Bowie, Md.) scored 21 points against Maryland, her third 20-point game of the season, going 6-of-14 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Franklin scored 14 of Virginia’s 19 points in the second half, making all of the team’s field goals after the halftime break. In her last four games, Franklin has scored 57 of Virginia’s 184 points (31 percent) including scoring 21 of UVa’s 44 points against Maryland (47.7 percent). She has led the team in scoring six of the last eight games and has scored in double digits seven of last eight games, averaging 16.3 points per game in that span.

Franklin’s recent success has moved her up in the conference rankings. She is 13th in points per game (13.3), is eighth in scoring in conference games (14.5) and is second in the ACC in minutes per game (35.4).

China Crosby (Sr., New York, N.Y.) scored five points with four rebounds and a steal against Maryland. Crosby, in her last three games, has a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. She tied her career high with seven rebounds at Boston College last week.

Virginia was 14-of-15 free throw shooting against Maryland (93.3 percent), the second time this season the team has shot 90 percent or better from the free throw line and the eighth 80.0+ percent performance. Virginia is currently second in the ACC in free throw percentage, making 73.9 percent.

The Cavaliers are back home hosting Wake Forest (11-14, 4-10 ACC) on Monday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. The game will be televised on the ACC Regional Sports Networks.