Virginia Hosts Howard Sunday Night

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Dec. 20, 2014 The Virginia women’s basketball team (8-2) closes out a three-game week by hosting Howard (1-10) on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

The game will be broadcast on WINA-1070 AM with Channing Poole and Myron Ripley calling the action.

Virginia opened the week with a 91-49 victory over Longwood on Tuesday followed by a 62-49 victory over Saint Mary’s on Friday. The Cavaliers had their best shooting performance of the season, going 38-of-68 (55.9 percent) from the field against the Lancers but had their second-lowest shooting percentage, 39.3 percent, against Saint Mary’s. The Virginia defense allowed just 49 points in each game this week, the second and third times this season that an opponent was held to less than 50 points.

Junior guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.) scored 20 points against the Gaels, her fourth 20-point performance of the season. Randolph went 8-of-8 from the free throw line, her second 8-for-8 free throw shooting performance of the season. Randolph is shooting 89.7 percent from the free throw line this season, ranking third in the ACC.

All of Randolph’s trips to the line came in the final 69 seconds of the game, combining with sophomore guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) to help the Cavaliers go 10-of-10 during that stretch. During the rest of the game, the Cavaliers were 2-of-4 from the line.

Randolph’s 20-point performance helped raise her season average to 18.2 points per game, moving her up to fourth place in the ACC.

Sophomore forward Sydney Umeri (Acworth, Ga.) played a season-high 27 minutes against Saint Mary’s, scoring six points on 3-of-3 shooting, with three rebounds and a pair of assists.

The Cavaliers are 6-0 at home this season and have won four of their last five games.

Associate head coach Kim McNeill will be handling the head coaching duties for the third game in a row as Joanne Boyle has not yet returned from finalizing an adoption.

This will be the third-ever meeting between Howard and Virginia with UVa having won the previous two meetings.

Howard fell 78-48 at Temple on Thursday night. The Bison earned a 70-65 home victory over MEAC foe NC Central on Dec. 8. The Bison played at Saint Mary’s in a Thanksgiving tournament, falling 80-55 to the Gaels. This will be the second time this season Howard has played an ACC school, falling 83-49 to UNC in the season-opener.

Te’Shya Heslip leads the team, averaging 16.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Heslip has scored 10 or more points in seven straight games and eight of the team’s 11.

The Cavaliers will take a short break for the holidays after hosting Howard. The Cavaliers return to game action on Sunday, Dec. 28 when they host the Cavalier Classic Presented by Holiday Inn University Area. Drexel and Miami (OH) open the tournament at 12 noon with Virginia taking on Davidson at 2:30 p.m. This year, the tournament will have set match-ups as opposed to a pure “classic” format, with Miami (OH) and Davidson playing at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29 followed by Virginia and Drexel at 7 p.m. An All-Tournament Team will still be announced, but there will not be a tournament champion.

Single-game ticket prices for all home 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. 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).