With only four games remaining until the conference tournament, the Virginia women's basketball team travels to Winston-Salem, NC, to play ACC rival Wake Forest (10-13, 4-9 ACC) tonight at 7 p.m.
Sitting on a 13-10 overall record and 6-6 conference mark, the Cavaliers desperately need a win to keep alive hopes of making a 19th consecutive NCAA tournament.
"We want to finish off the ACC strongly," sophomore guard Anna Prillaman said. "We have a chance to get in [the NCAA] tournament. We think about it all the time."
To beat Wake Forest - a team the Cavs defeated 65-51 Jan. 13 - Virginia will rely heavily on freshman center Brandi Teamer and senior guard Telisha Quarles, who combine for more than 31 points per game. Additionally, Virginia needs to continue its hot three-point shooting from Monday's 85-79 win over Georgia Tech, in which the Cavaliers made 11 of 26 threes attempted. Of those 11 three-pointers, Prillaman made six, including five in a row to set a team record.
The Cavaliers' win over the Yellow Jackets Monday moved Virginia into a tie with Clemson for fourth place in the nine-team ACC.
Essential to Virginia's success against Wake Forest tonight will be its ability to play loose, coach Debbie Ryan said.
"I don't want to make it too big of a game because the team has to just relax and play," Ryan said. "When we relax and play, we're usually better than when we've got an awful lot of pressure on us."
In order to keep the team relaxed, Ryan said she has not mentioned the NCAA Tournament.
"I haven't really talked much about what the picture is," she said. "They might talk about it amongst themselves. They understand. They know they have to win, and I think they know that they're putting themselves in a position to do very well. We just go one day at a time here."
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Ryan downplays the stress of making the tournament and its effect on her team.
"They are just playing as hard as they can. That's all I can ask of them," she said. "Win or lose, I'm going to be proud of them, so we're not going to allow pressure like that to build."
One factor that should remove some pressure from this game is Virginia's overall record against Wake Forest. Since Wake Forest joined the league, the Cavaliers have a 50-1 overall record against the Demon Deacons and have won the last 48 contests against Wake Forest.
To win their 49th consecutive game over the Deacons, the Cavaliers must contain Wake Forest's leading scorer Tonia Brown. The sophomore guard averages 14.3 points per game for the season and has upped that total to 16.2 points per game in conference play.
In a game they should win, the Cavs control their own post-season destiny, a fact of which they are completely aware.
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