Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With their tradition, the Maroons never have had problems garnering respect from the NCAA selection committee.
Since 1980, when Roanoke first became Division III, it has made the NCAA field seven times and been a host three times.
It's been different for Roanoke's women.
In her 10 seasons as coach at Roanoke, Susan Dunagan's record has been as good as any stretch in Maroon basketball history - men or women. She's won 193 games, 18 more than the men's team, and lost 66, which is 21 less.
Yet when the Lady Maroons (26-1) play Marymount (21-6) at 2 p.m. today at the Bast Center, it will mark the first time the Roanoke women, ranked eighth in Division III, have played host to an NCAA basketball tournament game.
"Let's face it," said Dunagan, whose team's first NCAA appearance came last season, "our guys have a lot of tradition going back to when they were Division II and won the national championship [1972]. Now we're in a position where we can prove ourselves."
Roanoke's blight comes from the lack of respect for women's basketball in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
When Dunagan took over at Roanoke in 1981-82, the program was still governed by the old Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. The ODAC didn't develop a league for women's basketball until 1982-83, a year after the NCAA finally sanctioned women's basketball as an intercollegiate varsity sport.
"The ODAC was not in existence when the NCAA started," Dunagan said. "We didn't get an automatic bid [into the Division III tournament] like some of the other conferences did. We came in a year late. From that point on, we've been trying to prove ourselves."
Last season it took a 24-5 record, including a 22-game winning streak, for the Lady Maroons to become the first ODAC team to receive an NCAA bid.
Although Roanoke didn't advance out of the regional at Centre (Ky.), its debut performance was impressive. The Lady Maroons lost 64-62 to top-seeded Maryville (Tenn.) but rebounded with a 90-83 victory over Marymount in the third-place game.
"A lot of people might have thought it didn't matter because it was a consolation game," Dunagan said. "I knew it was so valuable because we had to show we belonged there. To come back and win was for pride in ourselves and our conference."
Marymount, from Arlington, and Roanoke aren't strangers. This will be their fifth meeting the past three seasons. The Lady Maroons won 93-79 in November at the Marymount Tipoff Tournament. Roanoke's loss came to Maryville in the tournament's championship game.
"We have to cut down on the mistakes that we made earlier in the year against them," said Marymount coach Bill Fenney. "It helps that we have played them before. Our teams are comparable. There's a lot of good athletes on both teams. It's not a comfortable feeling, but you know both teams are strong and either can win on any given day."
The Saints, champions of the Capital Conference, are led by a pair of freshman forwards. Crystal Washington averages 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds, and Karen Still is close behind with 11.8 ppg. and 7.2 rpg. Two other players average double figures in scoring.
"Playing at home is a big plus," said Dunagan, whose team has won 27 straight at the Bast Center. "[Marymount players] have the same type of incentive we have. They've only been there twice also. With us having beaten them the last two times, they'll be coming after us."
Roanoke has a 24-game win streak, tied for the longest in women's Division III, and is outscoring opponents by an average of 30.8 points, which also leads the nation. The Lady Maroons are ranked near the top nationally in scoring defense (49.1 ppg) and rebound margin (12.3).
Paced by ODAC player of the year Karen Jenkins, who leds the team in points (12.8) and rebounds (6.3), Roanoke goes 11 players deep.
Debby Jones and Donna Cogar are each averaging more than 10 points per game and five other Maroons are getting more than five points a game. Roanoke has nine players with more than 70 rebounds, nine with at least 30 assists and 11 with more than 15 steals.
"That's why we've only got one loss," said Dunagan. "We don't try to get it all from any one person. We rely on a team game and good defense."
by CNB