Virginia Plays at Rutgers on Monday

Dec. 3, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s basketball team (4-5, 0-0 ACC) travels to play at Rutgers (7-2, 0-0 Big Ten) on Monday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center in New Brunswick, N.J.

All of the 2017-18 Virginia women’s basketball games – home and away – are available locally on the radio on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA. The game will also be televised on the Big Ten Network and stream online as a BTN2Go production.

The Cavaliers picked up the 900th win in program history on Saturday with a 68-50 victory over UNCG. After a close first period, the Cavaliers outscored UNCG 19-9 in the second quarter, including making their final seven field goal attempts of the half, to take a 37-23 lead into the break. The Spartans cut their deficit to single-digits, 43-34, with 3:34 remaining in the third period, but the Cavaliers went 6-of-9 from the field in the fourth period, including going 3-of-4 from three-point range, to close out the victory.

The Cavaliers shot 60.0 percent from three-point range against the Spartans, the team’s best three-point efficiency since going 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) against Miami two years ago (Jan. 3, 2016). The nine made threes was also a season high.

Senior guard J’Kyra Brown (Rocky Mount, N.C.) came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points against UNCG. She also had the best three-point shooting performance of her career, going 4-of-4 from long range. Her previous best was 4-of-5 from long range against Coppin State last season. In the last three games, Brown is averaging 13.7 points per game, shooting 56.0 percent overall (14-of-25) and 58.3 percent from three-point range (7-of-12). She has 10 assists, 11 rebounds and 14 field goals across that span.

Sophomore center Felicia Aiyeotan (Lagos, Nigeria), back in the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 19 at Dayton, scored eight points with nine rebounds and six blocked shots against the Spartans. Aiyeotan has 12 blocked shots in the last two games, blocking six against Maryland on Wednesday and matching that total against UNCG. Aiyeotan has moved into the top-10 in program history in blocked shots, ranking 10th with 79 in 39 career games, moving past Jeffra Gausepohl who had 77 in 116 games.

Virginia plays two Big Ten opponents in a span of five days, having faced Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last Wednesday (Nov. 29) and now Rutgers on Monday (Dec. 4).

The Cavaliers are 7-4 all-time against the Scarlet Knights, including a 62-54 victory last season at JPJ. The Cavaliers led by a point at halftime and built up a 10-point lead in the second half, but Rutgers pulled to within three, 53-50, with four minutes remaining, until back-to-back baskets by guards Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Aliyah Huland El (Randoph, N.J.) kept the game in UVA’s control.

Rutgers is a strong contender for this year’s “most improved” squad. The Scarlet Knights already have more wins this season than last year’s injury-plagued campaign when they finished with a 6-24 record. Rutgers two losses this season have come against South Carolina and Washington State. The Scarlet Knights have victories against Wake Forest (65-51) and NC State (57-53), the latter coming in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game last Thursday.

Tyler Scaife leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring, averaging 19.9 points per game. Caitlin Jenkins is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game.

Virginia will take 12 days off for exam break from Dec. 5-16, before heading to Florida to play in the West Palm Beach Invitational, facing Ohio (4-2) on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3:30 p.m. and Indiana (4-3) on Monday, Dec. 18 at noon. The Cavaliers’ next home game will be Thursday, Dec. 21 when they host Manhattan at 7 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).