Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994 TAG: 9403140151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BILOXI, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
She got both wishes Sunday.
In its first NCAA Tournament game, Tech will face Auburn at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a first-round matchup.
"Playing a team with the stature of Auburn gets our kids' attention," said Alfano, the Hokies' coach. "They'll be much more focused. That name really helps."
So might Cassell Coliseum. Tech has won 25 consecutive games there, a school record that as of March 3 was the fifth-longest home-court winning streak in Division I. The Hokies' last home loss was 93-59 to Virginia on Dec. 8, 1992.
Tech (24-5), which earned an automatic NCAA bid by winning the Metro Conference tournament championship here Friday night, is the East Region's eighth seed. The Tigers, an at-large choice and one of six Southeastern Conference teams to make the tournament, are seeded ninth. Auburn (19-9) finished sixth in the SEC with a 6-5 record.
A victory Wednesday likely will send the Hokies to Storrs, Conn., on March 19 or 20 to face Connecticut (27-2), the East region's top seed. Regional play begins in the third round at Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., on March 24 and 26.
Nineteenth-ranked Southern Mississippi, the Metro's other NCAA entrant, is seeded fourth in the East region. The Hokies beat the Golden Eagles twice in the past three weeks, the second time in Friday's Metro final.
The seedings didn't surprise Alfano.
"I thought they had been consistent all year," she said of the Golden Eagles. "[The selection committee] will reward you for the long haul.
"What I'm more shocked at is we're in the same bracket."
Tech enters the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game winning streak, its second-longest of the season. Only two of those victories were at home.
Alfano should hope things have changed since the mid-1980s. Tech is 0-3 all-time against Auburn, which beat the Hokies 75-60 in Blacksburg in 1984-85; 83-62 in Blacksburg in '85-86; and 81-53 in Auburn, Ala., in '86-87.
Auburn is led by Danielette Coleman, a 6-foot-2 center who averages 12.1 points per game. The Tigers' second-leading scorer, A.D. Hillsman, will not play against Tech while serving a one-game suspension for fighting in the SEC tournament.
The Hokies were 1-1 this season against teams from the SEC, which Alfano said she considers the top women's conference in the country. Tech beat Mississippi State and lost to Tennessee.
by CNB