Virginia Plays at ODU Thursday in WNIT First Round

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March 18, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (17-13, 7-9 ACC) plays at Old Dominion (20-12, 11-7 Conference USA) in the first round of the Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament on Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va.

The game will be broadcast on the radio on WINA-1070 AM with Channing Poole and Chelsea Shine Wilson calling the action.

The winner of the UVa/ODU game will advance to face the winner of Friday night’s game between Villanova and Maine. That second-round contest will be played sometime between March 21-24 with the exact location, date and time TBD.

This is Virginia’s fifth time playing in the WNIT and its 30th overall post-season appearance. None of the players on Virginia’s current roster have ever played in a WNIT or NCAA Tournament game before. All four of Virginia’s previous trips to the WNIT, including its last appearance in 2012, ended with a loss in the quarterfinals.

This is Virginia head coach Joanne Boyle’s sixth WNIT and 11th overall postseason appearance in her 13 seasons as a head coach. Boyle made two WNIT appearances with Richmond, leading the 2004 team to the semifinals, and two with California, winning the WNIT Championship by defeating Miami in the finals in 2010. This is her second WNIT appearance with the Cavaliers.

After upsetting No. 8 Louisville, 75-59, in the regular-season finale, Virginia had a disappointing 62-52 defeat by Miami in the second round of the ACC Tournament. Sophomore guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) led the team with 13 points against the Hurricanes. Freshman forward Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) scored 11 points with eight rebounds.

Second-Team All-ACC honoree Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.) ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring, averaging 16.7 points per game. Randolph leads the ACC in free throw percentage (90.3), ranking seventh nationally, and is vying to become the second-straight Cavalier to finish the season leading the conference in free throw shooting. Kelsey Wolfe won last year’s crown with an 89.5 percent efficiency. Randolph is also on pace to become just the fifth player in ACC history to win the free throw crown while shooting over 90 percent from the stripe.

Senior center Sarah Imovbioh (Abuja, Nigeria) leads the ACC in rebounding, averaging 10.8 per game, ranking 19th in the nation. Imovbioh is trying to become the seventh Cavalier to win the ACC rebounding title and the first since Aisha Mohammed paced the conference with a 10.1 average in 2009.

Old Dominion has made a post-season tournament in 22 of the past 24 seasons. This will be the third consecutive appearance in the WNIT by the Lady Monarchs and the fifth time in the last six years.

Sophomore Jennie Simms was named First Team All-Conference USA as well as the C-USA Newcomer of the Year after transferring from West Virginia. Simms ranks second in the conference in scoring, averaging 19.2 points per game. Simms was named to the All-C-USA Tournament Team after averaging 23.6 points, nine rebounds, two assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.6 steals in three games, while leading the Lady Monarchs to the title game.

Old Dominion leads the all-time series with Virginia, 18-14. The last time these two teams met was in 2008, when the Lady Monarchs earned a 78-70 victory in Norfolk. The two teams have never met in the WNIT, but have faced one another three times in the postseason in the NCAA Tournament, with UVa holding a 2-1 edge. The last time the two teams played in the post season, ODU earned an 88-85 overtime victory on their home court to advance to the 2008 NCAA Sweet 16. Virginia defeated ODU in the 1996 NCAA Sweet-16, 72-60, in Charlottesville before falling to Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Virginia also won a first-round game over the Lady Monarchs, 79-57, in 2005 in Minneapolis.

Tickets are $11 for adults, $8 youth (17 and under).