Home Women’s basketball: Virginia plays at Boston College on Thursday
Sports

Women’s basketball: Virginia plays at Boston College on Thursday

Contributors

uva basketballThe Virginia women’s basketball team (11-6, 4-0 ACC) travels to take on Boston College (6-9, 1-1 ACC) on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

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 production.

The Cavaliers head into the game riding a seven-game win streak. The last time the Cavaliers won seven games in a row was during the 2011-12 season when they went undefeated in the month of December to close out non-conference play. The last time the Cavaliers won eight games in a row was when the squad did so in 2008-09. The Cavaliers have started ACC play 4-0 for the first time since the 2000 season when the team started ACC play with nine-straight wins.

Virginia is receiving votes in this week’s USA Today Coaches’ Poll, the third-highest vote tally of teams outside the top-25.

Virginia is coming off a 70-41 victory over Clemson on Sunday. Virginia leads the ACC in scoring defense in conference games, holding opponents to 54.2 points per game, and is second in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting 36.5 percent.

The Cavaliers now have four players averaging double figures this season, led by sophomore guard Dominique Toussaint (Staten Island, N.Y.) at 11.5 per game, who has scored in double figures in three of the last four games. Additionally, Toussaint has 19 assists to six turnovers in ACC games, the best ratio in the conference. Toussaint dished five assists against Clemson, the fifth time in the last six games that she has had at least five in a game.

Sophomore guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) led the team in scoring against Clemson, scoring 16 points. Willoughby has had back-to-back games with double-digit scoring after contributing 10 against NC State. Willoughby has converted her last 11 free throw attempts, including going 6-of-6 at NC State and 4-of-4 against Clemson.

Sophomore center Felicia Aiyeotan (Lagos, Nigeria) has led or shared the team lead in rebounding in eight of the last nine games. She now ranks eighth in the ACC in rebounding, averaging 7.8 per game. In ACC contests, Aiyeotan is averaging 8.8 rebounds per game. Last year, Aiyeotan averaged 3.6 rebounds per game in conference games. Aiyeotan comes into the game with 98 blocked shots in her career. She is vying to become the seventh player in program history to record 100 or more blocked shots as a Cavalier. Aiyeotan has posted a double-double in three of the last four games.

Boston College is coming off a bye last Sunday. The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with a 77-64 victory over North Carolina last Thursday at the Conte Forum. BC used an 8-0 run in the middle of the second quarter, then a 6-0 run to close the quarter, outscoring the Tar Heels 19-11 to take command of the lead for the first time since the start of the game. BC went to the locker room up 32-28. Taylor Ortlepp scored 23 points against UNC, including hitting five three-pointers.

BC guard Milan Bolden-Morris was named ACC Rookie of the Week this week after scoring 18 points in the victory over North Carolina. This is the second time this season Bolden-Morris received this honor. The first was on Dec. 26, 2017 when she averaged 17 points a game and shot 50 percent in two games for the Eagles. She is currently BC’s leading scorer with a 13.3 points per game average.

Virginia leads the all-time series, 13-5, and has won each of the last four meetings against the Eagles.

Virginia plays back-to-back road games this week, closing out the week by playing at No. 18 Duke (12-4, 1-2 ACC) on Sunday, January 14 for a 3 p.m. game against the Blue Devils that will be broadcast on ESPN2. The Cavaliers return home on Sunday, January 21 when they host Virginia Tech (12-3, 1-1 ACC) at 12:30 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).

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.