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Women’s basketball: Virginia hosts No. 4 Louisville on Thursday

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uva basketballThe Virginia women’s basketball team (15-7, 8-1 ACC) take on No. 4 Louisville (22-1, 8-1 ACC) on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.

The game will be televised on the ACC Regional Sports Networks. 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 stream live online as an ACC Network Extra contest (subject to blackout).

The Cavaliers are in a three-way tie for first place with Louisville and Notre Dame, with Florida State a half-game back at 7-1. Virginia’s 8-1 start to conference play is its best since starting the 1999-00 season at 9-1 in ACC games. Virginia leads the ACC in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in conference games, limiting ACC opponents to 56.3 points per game and 35.9 percent shooting efficiency.

The Cavaliers are coming off a 62-56 victory at Georgia Tech on Sunday. The Cavaliers were 21-of-41 (.512) from the field, their seventh game this season in which they shot 50 percent or better. Virginia shot 85.7 percent (6-of-7) in the fourth quarter at Georgia Tech, its highest-ever shooting percentage in a single quarter.

UVA also had a season-high 13 blocked shots at Georgia Tech with sophomore center Felicia Aiyeotan (Lagos, Nigeria) blocking five and seniors Aliyah Huland El (Randolph, N.J.) and Lauren Moses (Mount Holly, N.J.) each tallying three.

Huland El and Moses are both closing in on 1,000 career points. Huland El comes into the game needing eight points while Moses needs 21 to reach the milestone. Moses comes into the game with 99 blocked shots in her career, poised to become the eighth player in program history to block 100 in her career. Aiyeotan reached that benchmark earlier this season and currently has 110 blocked shots in her career, tied for fifth most in program history.

Huland El has led the team or been tied for the team scoring lead in each of the last four games, averaging 17.0 points per game in that spam. She topped her then-season-high 19-point performance against UNC by scoring 21 points at Georgia Tech on Sunday. Huland El’s 21 points at Georgia Tech was just the second 20-point game by a Cavalier this season.

Louisville is coming off an 89-52 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday. Asia Durr scored 26 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Louisville’s only loss this season was a 50-49 game against then-No. 12 Florida State.

The Cardinals lead the all-time series against the Cavaliers, 5-2, and are 5-1 in ACC games. Last year, Virginia fell 86-81 in overtime against Louisville in the first meeting of the season (Jan. 5, 2017). The Cavaliers led by 15 points with 3:51 remaining in the third quarter, but needed a buzzer-beating three from Dominique Toussaint to force OT against the Cardinals. The Cavaliers fell 66-55 in the second meeting at Louisville.

The Cavaliers have a bye on Sunday before playing back-to-back road games next week, traveling to play at No. 10 Florida State on Thursday, Feb. 8 and Virginia Tech on Sunday, Feb. 11. Virginia returns home to host No. 5 Notre Dame on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

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).

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