TECH WOMEN'S SEASON ENDS WITH A THUD

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993                   TAG: 9303120077
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.                                LENGTH: Medium
TECH WOMEN'S SEASON ENDS WITH A THUD
A rout begat a rout. Virginia Tech's women's basketball team was taught that much Thursday.
Two weeks ago, the Hokies ripped Louisville 82-61 in Blacksburg. Thursday at the Commonwealth Convention Center in the second round of the Metro Conference Tournament, Louisville's retribution was a Hokies body-slam.
A 92-73 Cardinals victory - at one point Louisville led by 31 - ended Tech's most successful season and put third-seeded Louisville in the Metro championship game tonight against Southern Mississippi at Freedom Hall. Southern Miss defeated UNC Charlotte 68-64.
Second-seeded Tech is 20-8 and pining for a bid to the eight-team National Women's Invitation Tournament in Amarillo, Texas. Louisville is 17-11 and can go to the NCAA Tournament if it wins tonight.
"It's definitely a lot of payback for them," said Louisville's Nell Knox, who had 19 points. "It was all about getting them back, embarrassing them. They embarrassed us. Who likes to get beat by 20 points?"
Not Tech. Center Jenny Root, whose backdoor layup miss was one of Tech's seven straight misses to open the game, was in tears.
"We were nervous and got more nervous after we got down 10-0," Root said.
It got worse. Louisville's 1-3-1 halfcourt trapping defense and full-court press suffocated Tech, which didn't make a field goal for the first seven minutes.
Louisville, swept by Tech in the regular season, had pressed before, though not as much in Blacksburg, Tech coach Carol Alfano said.
Tech guard Lisa Leftwich said, "This time, their intensity level was just higher than ours."
Louisville coach Bud Childers said films of his team's two losses to Tech yielded a couple of adjustments in the press's rotation: "We knew where their next pass was going to be, and we were very ready to trap in that area."
Tech made one run, cutting its 20-2 deficit to 28-19 when Christi Osborne made a 16-foot jumper with 7:30 left in the first half. That capped a 15-6 Tech surge.
After a Cardinals timeout, junior guard Jody Martin hit a 3-pointer. Tech's Leftwich scored, but Louisville went on a 9-0 run to lead 40-22 with 3:53.
Tech failed for the eighth time to advance to the final. The Hokies, who were 10th nationally in field-goal percentage (48.2 percent), shot 29.6 percent in the first half - missing four point-blank shots - while Louisville shot 65.5 percent.
Tech shot 37.7 percent for the game, its worst mark since Feb. 1.
"They made us shoot poorly," Alfano said. "We're not used to being down that early. I was surprised they shot the ball so well."
The Hokies' first 20-win season in their 17 seasons wasn't lost in the shuffle. "It still feels good," Leftwich said, shrugging.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB