Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993 TAG: 9303050034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MAROONS COME TOGETHER IN TIME
A MAKESHIFT lineup and a couple of key losses served as detours on the Roanoke College women's basketball team's road to the NCAA Tournament.\ Roanoke College's ride to its fourth straight national women's basketball tournament hasn't been quite as smooth as in previous years.
The 1992-93 season has been a harrowing journey for coach Susan Dunagan and her Maroons, who play at Maryville (Tenn.) tonight in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
"This has probably been one of the toughest years to coach in a long time," said Dunagan, who has won 20 or more games seven years in a row. "You always expect some challenges, but this season, it has just been one thing after another."
Among the potholes:
Graduation - Five seniors departed from last season's Sweet 16 team, including All-American Donna Cogar.
December attrition - 5-foot-10 sophomore Alison Malkin was lost for 12 games with a knee injury; 5-10 freshman Lori Boyd, from Floyd, was lost for the season with a knee injury; and 5-8 sophomore Kristin Jepson left school.
The team was left with nine players, prompting Dunagan to invite student government president Kim Perdue, a senior from Blacksburg, to join the squad. Perdue - "She's like Miss Leadership," said senior point guard Amy Saunders - suited up for the first time since high school.
A 40-game home winning streak snapped by Emory & Henry on Jan. 26 and, 10 days later, a loss at Guilford, the sixth-place team in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
"That was the deadest I've seen this team," Dunagan said. "It was one of the lowest points of my coaching career."
Said Saunders: "We got down, especially the upperclassmen. We're not used to losing ODAC games."
Saunders, from Patrick Henry High School, and fellow senior Debbie Puch, from Salem, are 97-16 in their four years at Roanoke. In that span, the Maroons are 80-5 in ODAC games.
"In the ODAC race, I knew we were still right there, but as for the nationals, it looked doubtful," Puch said. "I commend the team and coaching staff for hanging in there. This year has been a roller-coaster."
Two days after the Guilford loss, Roanoke played well but lost at home to Maryville. The rough weekend left the Maroons ranked fifth in the South Region and tied for third in the ODAC race. Roanoke needed a top three regional ranking to secure an automatic bid to the national tournament.
"I just wanted to get back to the ODAC finals," Dunagan said.
The Maroons have won seven straight since the Maryville game. Dunagan landed her eighth ODAC season title in 12 years and third straight tournament crown as Roanoke won its last four regular-season games and three tournament games.
In the week before the tournament, the Maroons rose to third in the South Region and earned an at-large bid in the 32-team national field with their strong finish.
Dunagan starts a makeshift five-guard lineup - Puch, at 5-7, is the tallest starter - then substitutes with a wave of five reserves. In the ODAC championship game against Bridgewater, 10 Maroons played 12 minutes or more.
Tonight's game is a rematch of the first round of last year's Division III Tournament. Roanoke defeated Maryville 73-71 on Cogar's last-second 3-pointer.
This season, the Scots (22-2) are top-ranked in the region, and Roanoke (21-5) is fourth. The winner will play at the winner of the West Region first-round game between Muskingum (Ohio) and Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.).
"For me, the hardest part was getting us through mentally," Dunagan said. "We could have quit a long time ago. We hit rock bottom.
"I felt like, `What else could go wrong?' But I told the kids, `We're not the first team to have injuries and tough times. We're not going to get sympathy.' We learned to come together."