FOURTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IS GOAL FOR HIGHLANDER SENIORS

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993                   TAG: 9301270153
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
FOURTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IS GOAL FOR HIGHLANDER SENIORS
The circle is almost complete for Radford University women's basketball seniors Tammie Crown and LaSaundra Siddle.
They were roommates when they were freshman and they are roommates as seniors.
They signed to play for Radford on the same day four years ago, and they hope the last time they walk off the court together is March 13 after putting the final segment in their circle: a fourth Big South Women's Basketball Tournament championship.
"I think we can do it," Siddle said. "I am not being cocky, just confident."
Crown, a 6-1 center from Murfreesboro, Tenn., has been on the receiving end of many of Siddle's 237 assists, fifth on the list of career assists leaders.
And Crown is always looking to dish the outlet pass to Siddle, a 5-4 point guard from Greensboro, N.C. This after dragging down the 631 rebounds Crown has amassed, which places her seventh on list of career rebounders.
So, with a possible 16 games remaining this season, each is on a pace to become among the top five best at doing what each one's position requires.
"We aren't worried about our individual records, though," Siddle said. "Despite all the good players that have been through here, like Patrinda Toney and Roz Groce, they never achieved what we are trying to achieve, which is winning four Big South Tournament Championships."
"Sid" and "TC," as they are known to each other and by their teammates, set that goal after the team struggled under a new coach, Lubomyr Lichonczak, and his new system during 1990-91, their sophomore season. But an unlikely last-second three-point shot by Groce gave the Lady Highlanders the championship that year.
"The summer before that season we talked about whether we really wanted to stay because the main reason we came here was because of coach [Charlene] Curtis," who recruited them and left for Temple after their freshman season, Crown said. "We decided to stay and we stuck it out. I'm glad we did."
The adjustment to Lichonczak's new coaching style was no minor task for either player. Now they are the only remaining players who played under Curtis.
"But we still maintained our winning tradition here at Radford, which is something I'm glad we did because we had to go through a big adjustment," Siddle said. "I think we must have adusted pretty well because we came out with two more Big South Championships since he has been here."
After four years of taking the shots that basketball and college has thrown at them, to gain a fourth conference championship would be an accomplishment to savor for years.
"We've seen the different classes lose seniors along the way," Crown said. "But our class is still intact and we still have that chance."
Part of the reason they still have that chance is that the duo has always been able to relate to each other's feelings about basketball.
"When we were freshman roommates, we always had each other to complain and gripe about basketball to," Crown said. "We have shared common things in basketball like we always sat the bench together and we played together."
The pair has an unmistakable charisma on the court, as well: "Two freshman have told me that they could tell me and TC have been playing together for a long time because we know each other so well on the court," Siddle said.
That is evident in the playing smoothness between them. Nothing looks mechanical; they seem to know instinctively where the other will be and what the next move will be.
Crown and Siddle have anchored the team this year as it is going through another season of transition. After losing three key contributors from last year's squad, including 1992 Big South Player of the Year Patrinda Toney, the Lady Highlanders don't have a go-to player per se. So that fourth conference championship isn't a given.
The team is sixth in the conference, at 3-2, and will travel to league-leading Liberty University (4-1) Thursday. "We are going to have to work for it but I don't think it will be any harder than it was our sophomore year," Crown said. "The teams in the conference are more even, but we are getting better because the younger players are starting to come along and realize what their roles are."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB