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Wright's 27 lead No. 21 Virginia past Hokies 55-46

Feb 28, 2010 - 8:13 PM By HANK KURZ Jr. AP Sports Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.(AP) -- Virginia career scoring leader Monica Wright had 27 points and 10 rebounds in her final home game to lead the No. 21 Cavaliers to a 55-46 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday.

Wright's No. 22 jersey was retired in a postgame ceremony.

Virginia (21-8, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) clinched the third seed in next week's conference tournament.

Virginia Tech (15-14, 4-10) had its two-game winning streak snapped and lost its eighth in a row in the series. The Hokies were paced by Shanel Harrison with 15 points.

The Cavaliers came into the game off losses to No. 6 Duke and No. 9 Florida State. They trailed 25-20 after a sloppy first half, but a putback by Chelsea Shine sparked an 18-3 second-half burst that gave the Cavaliers a 41-32 lead. The Cavs led by at least five points the rest of the way.

Wright scored 10 points in the run, capping it with consecutive three-point plays.

Lexie Gerson added 11 points for Virginia.

Wright received a rousing ovation when coach Debbie Ryan removed her with 28.1 seconds left and the outcome determined, and was honored immediately after the final buzzer.

She has scored 2,474 points heading into the ACC tournament, and on Sunday she joined Dawn Staley, Cathy Grimes, Donna Holt and Wendy Palmer as former Cavaliers to have their numbers hanging from the rafters of John Paul Jones Arena.