Virginia Hosts Norfolk State on Monday

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Nov. 15, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (1-0, 0-0 ACC) plays its first home game of the 2015-16 season, hosting Norfolk State (0-1, 0-0 MEAC) on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

All of the 2015-16 Virginia women’s basketball games – home and away – are available locally on NewsRadio 1070 WINA and streaming online at wina.com and VirginiaSports.com with Channing Poole calling the action.

The game will also stream live online with a paid Cavaliers Live subscription.

Virginia is coming off a 70-66 road win on Friday (Nov. 13) at Middle Tennessee that featured an extremely balanced attack by the Cavaliers. Five players ended the game in double figures, with sophomore Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) scoring a team-high 13 points, the first time she has had the solo team lead for points in a game. Virginia only had three games last season in which five players finished in double-digits, including Longwood when six players scored 10 or more points.

Virginia’s bench contributed 28 points, including double-digit efforts from sophomore guard Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) and redshirt sophomore guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C). Last season, the Virginia bench averaged 11.1 points per game.

After closing out the 2014-15 season with three-straight double-digit scoring efforts, junior guard Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) picked the pattern back up at Middle Tennessee, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting (62.5 percent), including going 1-for-1 from three-point range. Sophomore guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) had her eighth-straight double-digit performance with 10 points. Venson also had five rebounds, three steals and three assists.

The Cavaliers also had very balanced rebounding with four players grabbing five or more rebounds and every player who logged more than five minutes on the court getting at least two rebounds. Junior forward Sydney Umeri (Acworth, Ga.), making her first start since Jan. 5, 2014, grabbed a team-high six rebounds, just the third time in her career she paced the team in rebounding in a game.

Similarly, five players had at least two assists and four players had three steals. Moses had two assists with three steals with zero turnovers.

Norfolk State dropped its season-opener to USC Upstate, 82-62, on Friday night. NSU shot 35.5 percent from the floor (22-of-62) and were outrebounded, 48-39.

Freshman guard Yazmen Hannah contributed nine points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench. Siobhan Beslow and Brehanna Daniels scored eight points apiece.

Virginia is 6-5 all-time against Norfolk State, but the two teams have only met once since the 1980’s, a 66-23 victory for UVA in the 2012 Cavalier Classic.

The Cavaliers have won their last 15 home openers, including an 87-82 victory over Ohio State last season, and have never lost a home opener at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia next travels to Auburn, Ala., taking on the Tigers on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. ET in a game that will be televised on the SEC Network. Virginia returns home to host Longwood on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

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).