Virginia Hosts No. 11 Duke on Thursday

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Feb. 10, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-8, 5-5 ACC) hosts No. 11 Duke (18-6, 9-2 ACC) on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 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. Live streaming video will be available online and through the Virginia Sports app with a Cavalier Live subscription.

Duke leads the ACC with a +13.7 rebounding margin and also paces the conference in blocked shots (6.7) and opponent shooting percentage (33.6 percent). Azurá Stevens is this week’s ACC Rookie of the Week after averaging 19.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in wins over No. 8 Louisville, Wake Forest and Clemson. Duke has three players averaging 13.9 points per game or more, including Stevens (14.0) and the team’s scoring leader Elizabeth Williams (14.8). Williams also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 8.4 per game, and has 66 blocked shots this year.

Virginia has lost the last 21 meetings between the two teams and has only one victory in the last 27 meetings, but the all-time series is tied 32-32. Duke won last year’s game 90-55 in Durham. When the two teams squared off in Charlottesville in 2013, the Cavaliers fell 62-41. Joanne Boyle, a Duke alumna, is 0-3 coaching against her alma mater.

The Duke game is in the middle of a stretch of three-straight games for Virginia against top-12 opponents. UVa is 0-3 this season against ranked teams, but all three of those losses have been on the road. Virginia’s last victory over a ranked team was an 86-72 victory over No. 6 Maryland last season at John Paul Jones Arena.

Junior guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.) scored a team-high 16 points in the 75-54 loss at No. 4 Notre Dame. Randolph, who ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring with a 17.6 points per game average, has been a consistent performer for the Cavaliers this season both at home and on the road. Randolph has scored in double digits in 21 of Virginia’s 23 games with five 20-point games at home and four away from JPJ. Randolph is averaging 17.7 points in home games, 17.0 points in road games and 16.9 points in ACC games.

Randolph and senior center Sarah Imovbioh (Abuja, Nigeria) are closing in on becoming the 30th and 31st players in program history to score 1,000 career points. Randolph enters the game with 921 points, while Imovbioh has 940.

Imovbioh, who has led the ACC in rebounding all season and is currently averaging 10.8 rebounds per game, pulled in a career-high 16 defensive rebounds at Notre Dame. Imovbioh, who led the nation in offensive rebounds most of the season and currently ranks eighth with 4.7 per game, did not have a single O-board at Notre Dame, the first time that has happened this season.

Virginia finishes this stretch of games against ranked opponents when they host No. 9 Florida State on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. The FSU game will be Virginia’s annual Play4Kay “Pink Game” and will be televised by the ACC Regional Sports Networks.

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).