Virginia Hosts the Cavalier Classic Tournament

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December 27, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The annual Cavalier Classic Tournament will take place this Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 28-29) at John Paul Jones Arena with the Virginia women’s basketball team (9-2, 0-0 ACC) taking on UMBC (3-7, 0-0 America East) on Wednesday and Dayton (5-6, 0-1 A-10) on Thursday. Both of those games will tip off at 7 p.m. Liberty (1-8, 0-0 Big South) will take on Dayton on Wednesday and UMBC on Thursday with both of those games tipping at 4:30 p.m.

All of the 2016-17 Virginia women’s basketball games – home and away – are available locally on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA with Channing Poole calling the action. The Virginia games will also stream online as ACC Network Extra contests.

Virginia is going for its fifth-straight victory on Wednesday. Head coach Joanne Boyle, who picked up career-win No. 300 earlier this month, is vying for her 100th victory at the helm of the Cavaliers (99-74 record at UVA).

The Cavaliers are coming off a 60-50 victory last Wednesday (Dec. 21) against Maryland Eastern Shore. Junior guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) led the team with 14 points against the Hawks, the first time that she paced UVA in scoring in a game. Brown also matched her season high in rebounds with nine, one shy of matching her career-high mark.

Freshman guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) had a double-double at Georgia and then followed that with eight points and seven rebounds against MDES. In the last two games, she is averaging 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Willoughby has led the team in rebounding in two of the last three games.

Freshman forward Lisa Jablonowski (Ernster, Luxembourg) is 7-of-11 shooting in the last three games, lifting her season shooting percentage to 53.1.

Virginia leads the ACC in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score just 51.5 points per game, which ranks 10th in the nation. UVA has outrebounded its opponent in each of the last six games with its +16 rebounding margin against MDES its largest of the year. In the last four games, opponents are shooting 31.0 percent from the field while the Cavaliers have made 45.5 percent of their attempts, including shooting better than 50 percent against both Bowling Green and UIC.

The Cavalier Classic Tournament dates back to 1976. Virginia captured 24 of the first 29 Cavalier Classic team titles before the tournament became a true “classic” format in 2014 with set match-ups and no champion. A six-player All-Tournament team that includes the Cavalier Classic MVP, will be announced on Thursday night immediately following the final game. Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) was last year’s Cav Classic MVP after scoring 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting (starting the game 7-of-7) against Coppin, followed by a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds against Richmond.

This will be the third-ever meeting between UVA and UMBC and the first time that the Cavaliers have faced the Flyers. UVA and UMBC faced one another in back-to-back seasons (2009-10) with the Cavaliers winning both games by an average margin of victory of +14.0.

UMBC started the year with back-to-back victories over Columbia and Gettysburg before dropping seven-straight. The Retrievers returned to the win column right before Christmas with a 57-45 victory over LIU Brooklyn at the Barclays Center last Wednesday (Dec. 21). Freshman guard Tyler Moore (who hails from Portsmouth, Va. and is a graduate of the Norfolk Academy) was named the America East Rookie of the Week on Monday as she tied her career-high of 19 points after going 6-of-13 from the field and knocking in four three-point baskets in the win over LIU Brooklyn. Senior guard Taylor McCarley, who missed the first five games of the season, leads the team averaging 13.4 points per game. The Retrievers are tabbed to finish second in the America East this season in the annual coaches’ preseason poll. The Retrievers were18-14 overall and 8-8 in league play in 2015-16, for a third place finish. The team made it to the postseason for the first time since 2011 last year, playing in the WBI, where they made history by winning a postseason game for the first time in program history.

Dayton went 2-0 at the Florida Sunshine Classic last week, including picking up a 77-69 victory over Old Dominion, a game in which the Flyers trailed by as many as 11 in the second quarter, but used fouls to get back in the game, going 20-of-25 from the free throw line. The Flyers also downed Texas A&M, 74-57. Senior center Saicha Grant-Allen was named A-10 Player of the Week on Dec. 26 after averaging a double-double with 14.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the tournament, highlighted by a 17-point, 16-rebound performance against ODU. Junior guard Jenna Burdette is one of two players averaging double figures, pacing the team at 13.5 points per game. Virginia is the second ACC school the Flyers will face this season after falling 81-68 to Georgia Tech at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas over Thanksgiving.

UMBC and Dayton will be the final two non-conference games for the Cavaliers before heading into ACC play. UVA opens conference action on Monday, Jan. 2, playing at No. 25 Syracuse at 7 p.m. Virginia will be back at home on Thursday, Jan. 5, taking on No. 8 Louisville.

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).