1991–92 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team

1991–92 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball
1991–92 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball
ACC regular season and tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 1
Record	32–2 (15–1 ACC)
Head coach	Debbie Ryan (15th season);
Assistant coaches	Frank DiLeo; Shawn Campbell; Melissa Wiggins;
Home arena	University Hall

1991–92 ACC women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 †	15	–	1	.938	32	–	2	.941
No. 8 Maryland	13	–	3	.813	25	–	6	.806
North Carolina	9	–	7	.563	22	–	9	.710
No. 20 Clemson	9	–	7	.563	21	–	10	.677
Florida State	8	–	8	.500	17	–	11	.607
NC State	7	–	9	.438	16	–	12	.571
Georgia Tech	6	–	10	.375	20	–	13	.606
Duke	4	–	12	.250	14	–	15	.483
Wake Forest	1	–	15	.063	10	–	18	.357

† 1991 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1991–92 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team represented the University of Virginia during the 1991–92 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cavaliers were led by 15th-year head coach Debbie Ryan, and played their home games at University Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia as members the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This season resulted in Virginia's third straight Final Four appearance. After a heartbreaking loss in overtime in the 1991 National championship game, the Lady Cavs fell painfully close again by losing to Stanford in the National semifinals by a single point, 66–65,^[1] after owning a 7-point lead with under eight minutes remaining.

Senior Dawn Staley capped an incredible career by repeating as National Player of the Year. The team went 63–5 over the past two seasons and spent that entire span ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the AP poll.

Roster

1991–92 Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Dena Evans	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)	Jr		Deer Park, TX
F/C	21	Melanee Wagener	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr		Mount Airy, MD
G	22	Chris Lesoravage	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr		Doylestown, PA
G	24	Dawn Staley (C)	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	Sr	Dobbins Tech	Philadelphia, PA
C	30	Heather Burge	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Jr	Palos Verdes	Palos Verdes Estates, CA
G	32	Tammi Reiss	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	Sr	Eldred Central School	Eldred, NY
F	33	Wendy Toussaint	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	So		Irvington, NJ
C	34	Heidi Burge	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Jr	Palos Verdes	Palos Verdes Estates, CA
F/C	40	Amy Lofstedt	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr		Ankeny, IA
F	42	Charleata Beale	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr		Dale City, VA
F	44	Allison Moore	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Jr		Virginia Beach, VA
F	52	Felicia Santelli	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr		Scarsdale, NY
F/C	54	Audra Smith	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr		Milledgeville, GA

Head coach

Debbie Ryan (Ursinus)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source:^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 22, 1991*	No. 2	Fairfield	W 110–64	1–0	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Jan 15, 1992	No. 1	No. 3 Maryland	L 65–67	13–1 (3–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 11, 1992	No. 2	at No. 1 Maryland	W 75–74	21–1 (11–1)	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Feb 15, 1992	No. 2	Duke	W 93–48	22–1 (12–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 17, 1992*	No. 1	Connecticut	W 64–43	23–1	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 22, 1992	No. 1	at No. 19 Clemson	W 85–81	24–1 (13–1)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, South Carolina
Feb 26, 1992	No. 1	North Carolina	W 65–52	25–1 (14–1)	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 29, 1992	No. 1	at NC State	W 76–74	26–1 (15–1)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina
ACC tournament
March 7, 1992*	No. 1	vs. Duke Quarterfinals	W 81–55	27–1	Winthrop Coliseum Rock Hill, South Carolina
March 8, 1992*	No. 1	vs. North Carolina Semifinals	W 74–55	28–1	Winthrop Coliseum Rock Hill, South Carolina
March 9, 1992*	No. 1	vs. Georgia Tech Championship game	W 70–69^[3]	29–1	Winthrop Coliseum Rock Hill, South Carolina
NCAA tournament
March 22, 1992*	(1 E) No. 1	vs. (8 E) No. 14 George Washington Second round	W 97–58	30–1	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
March 26, 1992*	(1 E) No. 1	vs. (4 E) No. 14 West Virginia Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 103–83	31–1	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
March 28, 1992*	(1 E) No. 1	vs. (3 E) No. 13 Vanderbilt Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 70–58	32–1	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
April 4, 1992*	(1 E) No. 1	vs. (1 W) No. 3 Stanford National Semifinal – Final Four	L 65–66^[1]	32–2	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	Not released
Coaches	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2

Awards and honors

Dawn Staley – ACC Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA Player of the Year, WBCA Player of the Year, Honda Sports Award

References

^ ^a ^b "Virginia Women Unable to Stop Time or Stanford". The New York Times. April 5, 1992. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
^ "1991-92 Women's Basketball Schedule". virginiasports.com. The University of Virginia. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
^ "Virginia women take ACC tournament". The Baltimore Sun. March 10, 1992. Retrieved April 25, 2024.

[semi-1] "Virginia Women Unable to Stop Time or Stanford". The New York Times. April 5, 1992. Retrieved April 25, 2024.

[2] "1991-92 Women's Basketball Schedule". virginiasports.com. The University of Virginia. Retrieved April 25, 2024.

[3] "Virginia women take ACC tournament". The Baltimore Sun. March 10, 1992. Retrieved April 25, 2024.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball
Venues	University Hall (1974–2006) John Paul Jones Arena (2006–present)
Rivalries	Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	"The Cavalier Song" "The Good Old Song"
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics