The No. 19 Virginia Cavaliers open up conference play tonight in style, as they face No. 11 Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee. On the one hand, you could be watching for senior guard Monica Wright, who averages 21.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game and is the current ACC Player of the Week. On the other hand, you could be keeping an eye out for head coaches Debbie Ryan and Sue Semrau and company, who will be roaming the sidelines barefoot in an eff ort to raise awareness for Samaritan’s Feet, an organization aimed to provide worthy children with a pair of shoes.
Wright needs only 35 points to break Dawn Staley’s all-time career scoring record at UVa (2,135 points). She currently ranks No. 19 on the ACC’s all-time scoring list with 2,101 points and became just the third-ever UVa player to score 2,000 career points.
Virginia has won its last four games, including a 72-64 win over St. Bonaventure Monday night in its last outing. They've also won two-straight ACC openers in 2007-08 and 2008-09, both against Wake Forest.
While China Crosby will be out for the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL, the Cavs will be looking for help from Whitny Edwards, who currently ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 8.5 points per game. She has scored in double digits in her last two outings, netting 14 points at Colorado (Jan. 2) and 11 points vs. St. Bonaventure (Jan. 4).
Also look forward to watching Ariana Moorer who has started the last four games for the Cavaliers and appears poised to take on full-time point guard responsibilities without Crosby on the court. Moorer is averaging 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. In the frontcourt, look to Simone Egwu as she continues to establish herself as a force in the post. Egwu is averaging 6.5 points per game and has 12 of the Cavaliers' first 14 games.
Florida State is ranked No. 11 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the Associated Press top 25. The Seminoles are coming off of a 77-64 win over Temple on Sunday (Jan. 3). Jacinta Monroe leads the team by averaging 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, followed by Alexa Deluzio (10.1 points per game). The Seminoles were ACC regular season co-champions in 2008-09 and return seven letterwinners from that squad.Virginia leads the all-time series with FSU, 30-9. The teams split two regular-season meetings last year, with each team winning on the other's homecourt. On Feb. 24, 2009, UVa came away with a 68-63 victory over Florida State in Tallahassee.
Tonight's game tips off at 7:00 p.m.