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Virginia Cavaliers (10-9, 3-3 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (14-5, 3-3 ACC)

Date and Time Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, 2 p.m. Location Syracuse, N.Y. | Carrier Dome
Media TV: ACC Regional Network Channel Finder
Other Media:Live Stats | Listen Live | ESPN3 Live Streaming Video Additional Information Ticket Information | Game Notes(.pdf) | 2013-14 Season Stats | ExperienceUVaWomensBasketball | 2013-14 Record Book (.pdf)
Social Media @UVaWBBHoops Twitter | Facebook | VirginiaWBB Instagram

Jan. 25, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (10-9, 3-3 ACC) faces Syracuse (14-5, 3-3 ACC) for the first time as a conference foe, playing on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

The game will be televised live on the ACC Regional Sports Network affiliates as well as streaming live on ESPN3 with Tom Werme and Christy Winters-Scott calling the action.

All Virginia women’s basketball games this season will be carried on the radio on WINA- 1070 AM with Channing Poole and Larry Johnson calling the action.

The Cavaliers and the Orange faced one another last season at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. Virginia took a 73-72 lead with 8.5 seconds remaining but the Cavaliers were whistled for a foul with 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock, sending the Orange to the line. Syracuse’s Elashier Hall made both free throws to earn the 74-73 victory.

The Cavaliers lead the all-time series, 3-1.

Syracuse has won three of its last four games and is receiving votes in this week’s USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The Orange, who were ranked as high as No. 20 this season, went 11-2 in its non-conference schedule and came into the week ranked No. 16 in the NCAA RPI ratings.

Fueled by an 18-0 second-half run, Syracuse downed Clemson 84-75 on Thursday night. Brittany Sykes scored 15 and Taylor Ford tallied 11 in the second stanza to aid in SU’s comeback efforts. Ford contributed 19 points and a career-high eight offensive boards while Sykes finished with 19 points. Shakeya Leary recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds and Brianna Butler rounded out double-digit scorers with 16 points. The Orange shot 7-12 from the field during its 18-0 spurt, making up for a six-point deficit with 7:56 left in the contest.

Syracuse leads the ACC with a +5.6 turnover margin. Virginia is second at +5.1. In ACC games, Virginia has a conference-best +7.3 mark. Virginia forced Florida State to commit 27 turnovers, the second-highest total by an ACC team in a game this season. Virginia forced 16 Maryland turnovers. In the last two games against a pair of ranked teams, Virginia has forced 43 turnovers while committing 18 (+12.5). UVa committed a season-low eight turnovers against Maryland, eclipsing the previous low of nine against Michigan.

With Thursday’s 86-72 victory over No. 6 Maryland, Virginia has posted back-to-back wins over ranked teams for the first time since defeating No. 6 Duke (61-60) on Jan. 8, 1996 followed by a victory over No. 13 NC State (77-69) on Jan 12.

For the second time this season, the Cavaliers had five players finish the game in double figures, a feat also accomplished against Louisiana Tech (Nov. 16). Senior guard Kelsey Wolfe (Germantown, Md.) scored a season-high 24 points, one shy of her career-high set last season at Minnesota (11/29/12). Senior guard Ataira Franklin (Bowie, Md.) and sophomore guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.) each scored 19 points.

Wolfe went 9-of-9 from the line against Maryland, duplicating a 9-for-9 performance she had last season at Penn (11/12/12). Wolfe is now 52-58 from the free throw line this season, ranking second in the ACC with an 89.7 percent efficiency. Her 9-for-9 ties the top performance by an ACC player from the stripe this season. Two other ACC players have also gone 9-of-9 this season. Wolfe has made her last 15 free throw attempts and 25 of her last 26 attempts.

Junior center Sarah Imovbioh (Abuja, Nigeria) scored 12 points with five rebounds in only 14 minutes against Maryland. Imovbioh was 5-of-5 from the field against the Terps, the second time this season she was perfect. She went 4-of-4 against Princeton. Imovbioh is shooting 52.7 percent from the field this season.

Randolph just missed logging her fifth 20-point game of the season with a 19-point performance against Maryland. Randolph has scored 20 points in three of the last six games and is averaging 18.7 points per game against ACC opponents. Randolph, who leads the Cavaliers in scoring averaging 13.3 ppg, played 32 minutes coming off the bench against Maryland. Randolph has only started four games this season. Her last time in the starting lineup was Dec. 28 against Coppin State when she scored a season-low two points.

Franklin, who had her first double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds, went 3-of-4 from three-point range against Maryland. Franklin is shooting 43.5 percent from long range against ACC opponents. Since scoring just two points against Duke, Franklin has averaged 18.5 points in the last two games, going 13-of-24 from the field (54.1 percent) with 7 assists.

Lexie Gerson scored 12 points against Maryland, her fifth double-digit scoring effort of the year. Gerson is averaging 10.0 ppg in her last five games. Gerson had five steals against Maryland after logging four vs. Florida State.

After heading to Wake Forest for a game on Thursday, Jan. 30, the Cavaliers return home to host Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. The Clemson game will also feature a pregame sports festival held in the men’s basketball practice court at John Paul Jones Arena. The festival will include seven sports stations for youth to visit, including basketball, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball. The festival will take place from 12:30-1:45 p.m. Youth completing all seven stations will receive a complimentary t-shirt. Admission to the festival is free with a game ticket.

There will also be activities for youth set-up in the main lobby of the arena starting at 12:30 p.m., including a sign-making station, face painting, a balloon artist, and inflatable games.

Fans may purchase home game tickets through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office online at VirginiaSports.com, by phone and in person. The Virginia Athletics Ticket Office is located in Bryant Hall at Scott Stadium and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Telephone purchases can be made by calling 1-800-542-UVA1 (8821) or locally at 434-924-UVA1 (8821).

Single-game ticket prices for all games are $10 for Reserved seating, $8 for adult General Admission and $6 for youth (18 & under), senior (60 & over) and UVa faculty/staff General Admission. Family Packages are available for $11 each and include a reserved ticket and a concessions voucher valued at $8. A minimum of four tickets must be purchased to receive package pricing.

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