Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050070
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD (staff)
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
WOMEN BASKING IN SO-FAR-WINNING SEASON
Atypically, Virginia Tech women's basketball coach Carol Alfano isn't tossing December aside like a meaningless preseason to the next three months of Metro Conference play.After all, Alfano's Hokies are 7-2 for the first time in the program's 17-year history.
"We really need to enjoy this," Alfano said.
The Hokies have beaten two NAIA teams and don't begin Metro play until Saturday against Virginia Commonwealth at home. On Dec. 8, Virginia flattened Tech by 34 points. But 11 days later, after exams, Tech beat touted but struggling Old Dominion in Norfolk 76-63.
Tech hasn't lost since. That includes the Hokies rallying to beat Marshall Dec. 30 in the championship game of Tech's Diamond Club Classic. Guard Lisa Leftwich, who had 31 points and eight assists in the two games, was the MVP.
"We learned a lot from the Virginia game. We said, `We want to play defense like they're playing defense,' " Alfano said. "They said, `We're better than this. Let's do it.' "
Ten Hokies are averaging double-figure minutes, and four are scoring between 10.4 and 12 points per game. Alfano substitutes often, sometimes rapid-fire. She has the depth, she said, and Tech needs fresh legs when it plays Saturday-Monday conference games this month and next.
"I want to try to wear people down," Alfano said.
Alfano's early-season schedule was peppered with not-so-threatening competition that Leftwich said may have had an unintended side effect.
"We've played [some] easy teams and keep picking up bad habits," Leftwich said after the struggle against Marshall. "This team was tougher than the game before."
After Tech plays Wednesday at North Carolina-Greensboro, 10 of its next 13 games are Metro contests.
"We're going to have to play better than what we did [against Marshall]," Leftwich said. "We had too many turnovers. We have to think more."
Alfano is thinking ahead.
"VCU here, our first Metro game, that'll tell us something," she said. "[But] this group didn't quit. They said, `We want to make the program better.' "
\ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: Women's basketball - VCU, 7 p.m. Saturday; Tulane, 7 p.m. Jan. 16; Southern Mississippi, 7 p.m. Jan. 18. Wrestling - Duke, 1 p.m. Saturday. Men's and women's swimming - West Virginia, 1 p.m. Saturday. Track - Mount St. Mary's, Appalachian State, Richmond, all day Jan. 16.
Scott Blanchard covers Virginia Tech sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News.