The Virginia women’s basketball team (15-13, 5-9 ACC) plays its final home game of the 2015-16 season, hosting North Carolina (14-15, 4-10 ACC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
The game will be televised live on the ACC Regional Sports Networks with Tom Werme and Debbie Antonelli calling the action. The game will also be streaming online on ESPN3/Watch ESPN. Additionally, all of the 2015-16 Virginia women’s basketball games – home and away – are available locally on NewsRadio 1070 AM and 98.9 FM WINA and streaming online at wina.com and VirginiaSports.com with John Freeman calling the action.
Virginia is coming off a 65-48 victory over Clemson on Sunday. The Cavaliers have won two of their last three games after also winning 61-50 at Boston College on Valentine’s Day.
Sophomore guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va.) led all players in scoring in the Clemson game with 18 points. Venson has led the Cavaliers in scoring in three of the last four games.
Venson moved two three-pointers closer to the Virginia record book on Sunday. Venson hit her 61st three-pointer of the season, matching her season tally of 61 from last year (which was the fourth highest single-season total in program history) and two shy of matching the program’s record for most three-pointers in a season. Telisha Quarles holds the record for most-made threes in a season, hitting 63 in both the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Venson is also two makes shy of tying for 10th place in the Virginia record book for made-threes in a career. Venson presently has 122 threes in her career.
Junior Breyana Mason (Woodbridge, Va.) scored 13 points against Clemson, on 5-of-8 shooting. Mason has scored in double-digits in 10 of the last 11 games.
Senior guard Faith Randolph (Derwood, Md.), in her third game back after missing nine games with a broken right thumb, logged the first double-double of her career against Clemson with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Randolph’s previous highest rebounding tally was eight. The 13 rebounds was also the third-highest single-game total by a Cavalier this season, topped only by sophomore Lauren Moses’ (Mount Holly, N.J.) 15 rebounds at BC last Sunday and a 14-rebound game against Richmond. Randolph was the fourth different Cavalier to lead the team in rebounding in the last four games.
Randolph, the Cavaliers’ lone senior, will be honored in a brief pregame Senior Day ceremony. Randolph currently has 1256 career points, ranking 21st in program history. Her career has included being named the 2014 ACC Sixth Player of the Year and second team All-ACC honors last year as well as being voted to the ACC All-Academic Team. Randolph led the ACC in free throw shooting percentage last year and is among the conference’s top performers from the stripe this year as well. The two-time ACC Player of the Week honoree has also been a star in the Charlottesville community, earning her nominations for the Allstate Good Works Team and the Senior CLASS award.
North Carolina lost its last three games and is 1-7 on the road this season. UNC has four players averaging double-digits including Stephanie Watts who is contributing 14.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Virginia has dropped the last six contests against North Carolina and is 1-19 against the Tar Heels dating back to March 9, 2003. The Cavaliers lone victory in the last 20 meetings was an 82-78 victory at home on Feb. 15, 2010. North Carolina leads the all-time series 50-32.
The Cavaliers have one game remaining on the regular-season schedule, playing at Virginia Tech on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va., before heading next week to the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, being held March 2-6 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The full bracket and first-round match-ups and game times will be released this Sunday evening.
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Chris Graham
