James Madison at Virginia
THE BASICS
♦ Tickets: Tickets range in price from $6 to $15. Please click here for specific information.
♦ Parking: Free parking on first-come, first-serve basis. Please click here for a parking map.
♦ Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va. (capacity: 14,593)
♦ Multimedia:
>> Local Radio: WHBG ESPN 1360 AM (Harrisonburg, Va.)
>> Audiostream: MadiZONE on JMUSports.com (free; requires registration)
LAST MATCH-UP
WNIT Quarterfinals, 3/25/12, JMU Convocation Center: JMU 68, Virginia 59
VIRGINIA SCOUTING REPORT
♦ A member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Cavaliers finished the 2011-12 season with an overall 25-11 record and went 9-7 in conference to tie for fifth place. This year, Virginia was picked to finish fourth behind Duke, Maryland and Georgia Tech in the Blue Ribbon Panel Preseason poll. They also picked up 12 votes in the Associated Press top-25 poll.
♦ Junior guard Ataira Franklin returns to lead the offense in 2012-13, having led the team in made three-pointers (53) and ranked second in scoring (12.4 ppg) for 2011-12. Senior Lexie Gerson, a key contributor in all 36 games last season, is out for the year following hip surgery. She was voted the Cavaliers' best defensive player in 2011-12 and was named to the 2012 ACC All-Defensive Team. Gerson led Virginia in total steals (113) and steals per game (3.1).
♦ The 2011-12 Cavaliers defeated their opponents by an average of 9.3 points per game, due in large part to forcing 22.6 turnovers per game and committing an average of 13.1 steals per game. Virginia saw a deficit, however, in blocks per game (2.7 bpg for UVa, 3.8 bpg for opponents) and rebounds per game (-1.6 rebounding margin).
JMU FAST BREAK
♦ The Dukes return four starters from the 2011-12 WNIT runner-up squad. Last season, JMU went 29-8 overall and 14-4 in conference play, boasting a 16-2 home record for the year.
♦ As a team, Madison blocked 172 shots from opponents last season and tallied 1,674 rebounds, both new school records. Senior guard/forward Nikki Newman, who accounted for 52 of those denials and averaged a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game, returns to the lineup as the reigning Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year.
♦ The two main scorers for the Dukes in 2011-12 will also return to the court. Senior guard Tarik Hislop and junior guard Kirby Birkholder each averaged double-digit point production during their All-CAA season, dropping 14.8 ppg and 11.5 ppg, respectively last season. Hislop led the squad in made field goals while Burkholder preferred making her shots from beyond the arc.
