Herd Women to Square Off with Virginia on Tuesday

Herd Women to Square Off with Virginia on Tuesday

Marshall Looks for Third Straight Win

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Dec. 19, 2005

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Marshall-Virginia Game Notes
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team will return to non-conference action when it takes on the Virginia Cavaliers on Tuesday at University Hall. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

The Herd (5-3, 1-0 C-USA) will face an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the fourth consecutive season. In its last such contest, Marshall fell to No. 17 Maryland by 15 points at the Terrapin Classic. Its last win over an ACC team came in 2003, when MU dealt Wake Forest an 11-point loss at the Cam Henderson Center. The Herd will play in Virginia Tech's Lady Luck Classic in its next outing, with another possible ACC matchup looming in the championship game tilt.

Marshall has won two straight games after its thrilling 57-54 victory over East Carolina in its inaugural Conference USA game. Center Modupe Ishola continued her strong play in the middle with her second double-double of the season (13 points, 10 rebounds) while guard Mary Pat Statler contributed a team-high 14 points off the bench versus the Pirates on Friday. Ishola leads the team in rebounding (8.5/game), Statler leads in 3-point percentage (50 percent) and guard Sikeetha Shepard-Hall is the team's leading scorer with 15.3 points per game.

Shepard-Hall, the C-USA Player of the Week, averaged 19.5 points per game in the Herd's last two outings, while dishing out 4.5 assists and grabbing 4.5 rebounds in that span. She also converted her last 16 free throw attempts and is shooting 58.8 percent from the floor (10-for-17) during the Herd's current win streak.

Virginia's two leading scorers, center Siedah Williams and guard Takisha Granberry, both average 10.6 points per game. Freshman forward Lyndra Littles paces the Cavs (6-1) on the glass, pulling down 6.7 boards per game along with 9.3 points per contest.

Virginia was picked to finish in eighth place in the 2005-06 ACC preseason poll. The Cavaliers made their 21st NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005 and advanced to the second round as the No. 6 seed. UVa lost its top three scorers from that team, but return two starters in guards Brenna McGuire and Sharnee Zoll. Six-foot-two center Siedah Williams returns and leads the team in scoring with 10.6 points per game.

The Cavs, winners of three straight and recipients of top-25 votes in the AP Poll, are converting 43.1 percent of their field goal attempts.

Marshall and Virginia have met only one time prior to Tuesday's meeting, with the Cavaliers pulling out a 32-point win, 105-73, on Dec. 3, 1993. That win also came in Charlottesville, Va., at UVa's tournament early in the 1993-94 season.

The Marshall-Virginia game can be heard live on Marshall's student station, WMUL 88.1-FM, which will also utilize a web broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.