Virginia

KELSEY WOLFE scored 22 points as visiting Virginia overcame a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat Penn, 68-65, in a women's game at the Palestra Monday night. Alyssa Baron scored 21 points and Kara Bonenberger added 14 for the Quakers (0-2), who led by 35-20 just before intermission. Telia McCall had 14 points and Ataira Franklin added 13 for the Cavaliers (2-0).  

Making only the second bowl appearance in its 99-year football history, Virginia beat bowl regular Brigham Young University, 22-16, in the All American Bowl. The Cavaliers' only previous bowl experience was a 27-24 win over Purdue in the 1984 Peach Bowl. BYU, meanwhile, was making its 10th consecutive bowl appearance. Virginia combined Scott Secules' passing with the running of Kevin Morgan (82 yards) and Marcus Wilson (77 yards) to overcome a 394-yard passing performance by BYU's Sean Covey (37-for-61)

Alison Cohen, Lower Merion's multi-talented sports star, announced last night that she had signed a letter of intent last week to play tennis on a partial athletic scholarship at the University of Virginia. Cohen, who won the PIAA Class AAAA state singles title last fall, decided on Virginia over Harvard. "It was just a totally different feeling at Virgina," she said. "The sports scene is just a bigger part of the campus life, but it's still a great place academically. " That is important to Cohen, who boasted a perfect 5.0 grade-point average throughout her high school career while earning a total of 13 varsity letters in five sports.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - With memories of its slain teammate everywhere, the Virginia women's lacrosse team played for the first time since the death of Yeardley Love. The Cavaliers rallied in the last four minutes to beat Towson, 14-12, Sunday and reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. Love's battered body was found May 3, and Virginia men's lacrosse player George Huguely is charged with killing her. The Virginia women's players wore shirts under their jerseys with the phrase "One Team.

Penn Charter's Sean Singletary, who is considered one of the country's premier high school point guards, has given an oral commitment to play college basketball at Virginia. Singletary, a solidly built, 5-foot-11, 173-pounder, chose the Cavaliers over Kansas, Ohio State and Indiana. The other school he also considered heavily was Rutgers. As a junior last season, Singletary averaged 21 points and eight assists per game for the Quakers, who went 26-4 and captured the Inter-Academic League championship.

Steve Holmes, a two-sport standout at Germantown Academy, has made an oral commitment to attend the University of Virginia on a lacrosse scholarship. Holmes accepted the scholarship with the option of also playing football. "I knew I definitely wanted to go south," Holmes said. "And when I went to [Virginia], the first thing I saw was the campus. It's great. Then I got to talk with the coaches and the faculty. I fell in love with it. " Holmes, a 17-year-old resident of Lower Gwynedd, said Virginia allowed him the opportunity to play both sports in Division I. "I was reluctant to commit [to Virginia]

Cherrise Graham always felt a tug toward Virginia. Graham, the former Archbishop Carroll star who left the Purdue women's basketball team Nov. 29, said yesterday she expects to transfer to the University of Virginia for the coming semester. "I want to go to Virginia," she said, adding that her decision is not 100 percent final. "I think I wanted to go to Virginia even when I committed to Purdue [last year]. I think that was always in my gut, that I should have gone there. " Graham, The Inquirer's girls' basketball player of the year last season, is regarded as one of the best freshman players in the country.

Vanderbilt grew up a little bit, at Virginia's expense. Coming off a 95-73 loss on the road to Penn State, the host Commodores rebounded by upsetting the No.20 Cavaliers, 70-65, last night. "We played a heck of a game together as a team," said sophomore Frank Pride, who scored 14 points off the bench for Vanderbilt. "Virginia, a Top 20 team, (us) coming off a 22-point blowout on the road . . . I thought to me, myself, we had to grow up in a hurry. " Vanderbilt (3-1) jumped out to a double-figure lead lead early in the first half.

Pete Gillen has left Providence to sign a seven-year deal to become Virginia's new basketball coach. Virginia athletic director Terry Holland confirmed Gillen's selection Friday night from San Antonio, Texas, where he is attending the NCAA Final Four. Holland would not divulge financial terms of the contract, but it is expected that Gillen's total compensation package will exceed $500,000 a year. Gillen replaces Jeff Jones, who resigned March 15 after eight seasons. An official news conference will be held Thursday.

Guard Sean Singletary will return for his senior season at Virginia, Penn Charter coach Jim Phillips told the Daily News today. Players who had declared for the draft and had not hired an agent had until a midnight deadline to return to school. Singletary, a 6-foot guard, was on the Charlottesville, Va., campus and discussed his decision with Cavaliers coach Dave Leito. He had spent part of the summer at Virginia, continuing to work toward his anthropology degree. Singletary worked out for the 76ers last Friday.