Wright Hits 2,000 Career Points, Hoos Fall to Dawgs

Senior guard Monica Wright became the third 2,000-point scorer in Virginia women’s basketball history in No. 17 Virginia’s 69-53 loss at No. 12 Georgia Sunday afternoon.

With the loss, Virginia’s record went to 7-3, while Georgia remained undefeated and improved its record to 10-0.

After leading 9-2 early in the half, the Cavaliers trailed by double digits, 28-18, on 3-point play by Porsha Phillips with four minutes left in the first half.

Georgia out-scored Virginia 8-4 in the final four minutes to take a 36-22 lead into the locker room.

The Lady Bulldogs began the second half on a 7-0 run before Wright finished a 3-point play for the Cavaliers’ first three points of the half. Those points, Wright’s eighth, ninth and 10th of the game, were also the 1998th, 1999th and 2000th of her career.

She became the third Cavaliers in school history to amass at least 2,000 career points (Dawn Staley with 2,135 points and Heather Burge with 2,058 points are the others). Wright also became the 19th-ever player to surpass the 2,000-point mark in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Georgia extended its lead to 53-30 on a jumpshot by Jasmine James with 14:05 left in the game. Virginia cut the lead to under 20 points on five separate occasions but each time Georgia had an answer.

The Lady Bulldogs won by a final score of 69-53 and were led by Jasmine James with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Wright finished with 21 points and her career total is now 2,011. Whitny Edwards and Ariana Moorer added six points each.

The Cavaliers return to the hardwood for the Marriott Cavalier Classic in John Paul Jones Arena on Dec. 28 and 29. The schedule is as follows: Liberty vs. Cornell (Dec. 28, 4:30 p.m.) followed by Virginia vs. Samford (Dec. 28, 7 p.m.). The consolation game will be played on Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m., followed by the championship game at 7 p.m.