Junior guard Ataira Franklin was named to the All-ACC first team Monday, her first career all-conference selection. In a separate vote, the ACC coaches named Franklin to their All-ACC second team. Franklin led Virginia in scoring during the regular season and started all but one of the team’s 29 games.
After struggling through a knee injury early in the season, Franklin bounced back to become an integral member of the Virginia squad and the Cavaliers’ main scoring threat. Named to the preseason All-ACC team, Franklin did not disappoint — averaging 14.2 points per game, the seventh best mark in the conference. Franklin led the Cavaliers in scoring 10 times. She also led Virginia in 3-point percentage, shooting 35.7 percent from the behind the arc.
When the team lost junior guard Kelsey Wolfe to injury, Franklin was asked to take on further responsibilities and played an increasingly large portion of the team’s minutes. Her 36.1 minutes played per game were the highest in the conference. Franklin’s season-high 45 minutes in Virginia’s 73-68 overtime loss to Wake Forest last week underscored her importance to the injury-depleted squad.
Franklin and the Cavaliers are preparing now for their opening game of the ACC tournament, in which No. 6 seed Virginia will take on No. 11 seed Boston College Thursday in Greensboro, N.C.
——compiled by Michael Eilbacher
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