Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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March 16, 2010

Cavaliers grab at-large NCAA berth

By HANK KURZ Jr., AP Sports Writer Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia has another chance to do right by Monica Wright.

The Cavaliers (21-9) were given a No. 5 seed as at at-large entry into the NCAA women’s tournament and will play Green Bay (27-4) in Ames, Iowa, on Sunday night.

It is Virginia’s third trip in a row to the tournament, and another chance to try and get through the first weekend for the first time since the 2000 season. It will be their last chance to do anything with Wright, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s player of the year.

“I think this team knows it has to play better and come back together again and get the job done, and that’s basically what we’ve been striving for,” coach Debbie Ryan said.

Ryan hoped the big send-off would start in the ACC tournament, where the Cavaliers were seeded third, giving them a first-round bye. But instead, they lost to sixth-seeded N.C. State in the quarterfinals. Wright scored 32 points; her teammates managed just 27.

Ever since, Ryan said, the team has seemed to practice with more purpose.

“They have been pushed and I think they’ve pushed themselves. ... They are trying to rise to the occasion even in practice, so there’s been some really good things that have happened for us,” she said.

“I think we will be a much better basketball team.”

Virginia advanced at least as far as the third round of the NCAA tournament 12 times in 14 seasons between 1988 and 2000, but hasn’t done it since. Last year, Wright scored 26 points in Virginia’s 99-73 loss to fourth-seeded California in the second round.

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