March 3, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's Cetera DeGraffenreid and Virginia's Monica Wright were named Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Rookie and Player of the Week for the period ending on Sunday, March 2. DeGraffenreid collects her third newcomer recognition following a pair of ACC wins to conclude a perfect 14-0 ACC season for the Tar Heels. Wright, who was named the 2006-07 Rookie of the Year, collects her second and the league's final Player of the Week honor after helping her Cavalier squad secure a 2-1 mark on the week and a first-round bye in the upcoming ACC Women's Basketball Tournament.

DeGraffenreid helped lead UNC to a pair of wins over rivals NC State and Duke en route to finishing a perfect 14-0 2007-08 ACC regular season. The newcomer scored nine points and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in the win over NC State on Monday. She then had team-highs of 14 points and six assists in the 82-51 win over Duke on Sunday, UNC's biggest win over the Blue Devils since 1982.

Wright averaged 24.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 2.0 assists last week for the Cavaliers. Against the 12th-ranked Blue Devils, the sophomore tallied 23 points and three steals. Wright followed that performance with a 21-point and career-high 28-point showing against Boston College and Georgia Tech, respectively. Wright hit the game-winning shot with less than three seconds left in the second overtime period to lift Virginia over Georgia Tech, 103-101, Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. In addition, Wright shot 54.3 percent from the floor, including a 79.2 free throw percentage.

North Carolina and Virginia both earned first-round byes in the upcoming ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, which will be held March 6-9 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Virginia, which earned the No. 4 seed, will face the winner of the No. 5 Georgia Tech and No. 12 Miami game on Friday at 11 a.m. North Carolina will follow at 3 p.m., facing the winner of No. 8 NC State and No. 9 Clemson.

The 31st Annual ACC Women's Basketball Tournament is set to tip-off at approximately 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 6 and will conclude with a 1 p.m. championship contest on Sunday, March 9. The title game as well as the semifinals showings will be broadcast by Fox Sports Net (FSN), while the 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, and Friday, March 7 will be televised on the league's regional package (RSN).