Women's Basketball Senior Day on Sunday

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Date and Time Sunday, March 3, 2013, 1 p.m. Location Charlottesville, Va. | John Paul Jones Arena
Media GameTracker | Listen Live TV Broadcast ACC Regional Networks: FOX Sports Carolinas, FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Florida, Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic, FOX Sports Tennessee, FOX Sports Arizona, FS Prime Ticket,FS Detroit Plus, New England Sports Network Plus
ESPN3 (outside the ACC footprint) Additional Information Ticket Information | Game Notes(.pdf) | 2012-13 Season Stats | ExperienceUVaWomensBasketball | 2012-13 Record Book (.pdf)
Social Media @VirginiaWBB Twitter | Facebook

March 2, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-13, 7-10 ACC) hosts No. 24 Florida State (21-7, 11-6 ACC) in the regular-season finale on Sunday, March 3 at 1 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. The game will be televised on the ACC Regional Sports Networks and streamed live on ESPN3 outside the ACC footprint.

The Cavaliers, despite losing five games in a row, are still in sixth place in the ACC, but are now tied with Georgia Tech in the battle for the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament. Virginia and the Yellow Jackets are one game up on NC State, which is currently in eighth place in the standings. Florida State has clinched fourth place in the ACC and a first-place bye in the Tournament.

The ACC Tournament will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum March 7-10. Game time and opponent for the Cavaliers’ first round game will be announced on Sunday night when the complete tournament bracket is unveiled soon after the completion of the 4 p.m. Duke/North Carolina game.

All 11 games of the tournament will be televised. The opening round through the semifinals will air on the ACC Regional Sports Networks. The championship game will be televised on ESPN2. Ticket packages are on sale through Ticketmaster.

On Thursday, the Seminoles celebrated senior day with a 72-71 upset victory over No. 9 Maryland. Senior guard Alexa Deluzio’s free throw with seven seconds left lifted FSU to its first victory over a Top 10 team since 2009 and ninth ever in school history. Deluzio had just missed a pair of free throws but got a chance to win it after Maryland was whistled for a lane violation on her second free throw. Florida State led 64-47 with 4:31 to go before the Terrapins stormed back to tie it at 71 on Chloe Pavlech’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.

Florida State has the most-potent offense in the ACC, averaging 77.4 points per game and is shooting 46.6 percent from the field. Virginia is averaging 61.7 points per game and shooting 39.6 percent. Virginia is fifth in rebound margin (+3.2) while Florida State is eighth (+1.9). Florida State averages 9.9 steals while Virginia averages 9.2.

Virginia enters the month of March trying to snap a five-game losing streak. The Cavaliers were 1-7 in the month of February, averaging 54.4 points per game while opponents averaged 65.6. The Cavaliers struggled with their three-point shooting, making 22-of-111 (19.8 percent) of their long-range shot attempts. In two of the last three games, UVa has shot less than 10 percent from long range including Thursday night’s 1-for-18 performance at NC State.

Ataira Franklin (Jr., Bowie, Md.) has scored 20-plus point in three of the last four games, including scoring 23 at NC State on Thursday night. In the month of February, Franklin averaged 16.4 points per game.

Sarah Imovbioh (So., Abuja, Nigeria) also put up strong numbers in February, averaging 7.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. In the month of January, Imovbioh averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest. She is currently tied for the ACC lead with a 58.6 field goal shooting percentage.

Franklin has cracked the top-10 in the ACC in scoring for the first time this season, ranking No. 9, averaging 14.0 points per game. In ACC games, she is averaging 15.4 points per game, ranking sixth. She is eighth in the ACC in steals (2.1 per game) and tied for seventh (with Kelsey Wolfe) in free throw shooting at 78.8 percent. She leads the ACC in minutes per game (36.0) and leads the team in blocked shots (20).

Sunday’s game will feature a special pregame senior day ceremony to honor four Cavalier players and three team managers. Current players China Crosby, Simone Egwu, and Telia McCall will be recognized as well as Erinn Thompson who had her playing career shortened by injury. Managers Annabelle Larose, Tiffany Shell, and Kelly Wagner will also be recognized. The ceremony will take place with ten minutes remaining on the pregame countdown clock.

For Sunday’s warm-ups, the team will be wearing personally-designed shooting shirts with a “Virginia WBB + Health System Hoos” theme. The players created the shirts in a team design session held Friday after practice as a celebration of the partnership between the team and the UVa Health System. All of the t-shirts will be autographed, framed, and presented to the UVa Health System for display in the hospital.