Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150096
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
They've never met. They know they choose the same weapon: a basketball. They know they're both good. They know they sort of look like each other (over a phone line, they sound more alike than they look).
And they know whose turf each protects. Christi is a preseason all-Metro Conference pick for a Virginia Tech women's basketball team that expects to repeat its NCAA Tournament appearance of last year. And Christie, a 1993 second-team all-Old Dominion Athletic Conference choice at Bridgewater, is one of four returning starters who plans on better than a fourth-place ODAC finish.
At Tech's basketball camp this summer, the Hokies' Osborne said, someone was telling her about the other Christie.
``It's the only time I ever heard of her,'' she said. ``It's a pretty weird coincidence. It is kind of funny. I'm sure it's not something that happens all the time.''
In her occasional visits to Roanoke, Bridgewater's Christie (a Daleville native) hears about her namesake in Blacksburg.
``People do think I'm her,'' she said. ``It's sort of amusing to me.''
The differences begin with their positions: Tech's Osborne is a small forward, Bridgewater's is a point guard. Tech's Osborne averaged a team-high 14.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last year; Bridgewater's Osborne finished at 11.6 and 5.0. Incidentally, each shot 43 percent from the field.
There's another similarity between the two seniors. Tech's Osborne often is the Hokies' clutch-time choice, and she's made the all-tournament team in Tech's last seven tournaments, most valuable player in the last three.
``If it's at the end, the coaches usually look to me,'' said Bridgewater's Osborne, who was among the team's captains as a junior, an unusual occurence at Bridgewater.
Tech's Osborne is one reason the Hokies were picked by Metro Conference coaches to win their first regular-season Metro championship after winning their first league tournament title last March.
The Hokies, who open their season today at Maryland in the Women's Preseason National Invitation Tournament, are two years removed from a 10-18 season and aren't familiar with preseason publicity.
The Hokies return everyone except starting guard Sue Logsdon from last season's 24-6 team, and they're already thinking about advancing beyond the first round of the NCAA Tournament after a first-round home loss to Auburn last year.
``The highest expectations probably are the ones we put on ourselves,'' Osborne said. ``I think our team's pretty well motivated from within. We're thinking, yeah, this is what we can do if we put our minds to it.
``The way we finished last year, if we would've been picked [lower] we would've said, `Wait a sec, what did we show you last year?'''
Here's a look at some other women's college teams in the area:
VIRGINIA: Mail continues to reach the Cavaliers in a Top 10 zip code. Debbie Ryan's 18th Virginia team returns five starters, including first-team all-ACC center Wendy Palmer and ACC rookie of the year Tora Suber, from a 27-5 team that reached the NCAA's final 16 and was ranked 10th by The Associated Press at year's end.
Ryan should win her 400th career game this year (she needs 14 victories). UVa, the only team to beat national champion North Carolina last year, might outshine the Tar Heels in the ACC (and nationally) this year.
Guard Jenny Boucek (8.5 points per game, 4.2 assists per game), forward Charleata Beale (8.4 ppg, 4.3 rebounds per game), center Jeffra Gausepohl (10.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg), forward Amy Lofstedt (10.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and guard Chris Lesoravage (3.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg) support Palmer (16.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg) and Suber (12.7 ppg, 3.9 assists). Freshman Monick Foote was the 1994 Gatorade National High School player of the year.
RADFORD: Here's another act planning an encore, albeit without a couple of headliners. Shannan Wilkey (21.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Samantha Gilbert (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) are gone from an 18-12 NCAA Tournament team, but the Highlanders are the coaches' and sports information directors' preseason pick to win their sixth straight Big South Conference title.
Should they be?
``Without question. That's where I voted us,'' fifth-year Radford coach Lubomyr Lichonczak said. ``If you can't really, really believe that's where you are, I don't believe you have a chance of accomplishing that.''
Swingman Nicole Gardiner (11.3 ppg) figures to score more, but she's not the only one. Lichonczak, mentioned in Basketball Times magazine as a mid-major coach who shouldn't be overlooked, has asked everyone on the team to look for points.
``As a player, you like to hear that,'' Lichonczak said.
If Radford overcomes its losses, it should be peaking around tournament time again - just what Lichonczak wants. The Highlanders are 11-0 in the last four Big South tournaments, and the league playoff is at Radford's Dedmon Center this year and next. Of course, the Highlanders must overcome what could be a damaging early schedule that includes Virginia Tech, UNC Charlotte, Virginia and possibly Indiana in the Hoosiers' Christmas-break tournament.
``I like it that way,'' Lichonczak said. ``It really exposes everything that you continue to need to work on.''
ROANOKE: The Maroons took a 16-game winning streak into last year's NCAA Tournament, where North Carolina Wesleyan bounced Roanoke by three points. Starting guards Kristie Workman and Kay Caldwell, first-team all-ODAC picks, are gone.
Fourteenth-year coach Susan Dunagan figures the Maroons can survive, although preseason practice was hindered because center Crystal Wilson (14.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg), returning guard Susan Brown (3.9 ppg) and junior forward Paula Kennedy (6.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg) still were playing volleyball.
Dunagan, who used a three-guard lineup last year, probably will play a more conventional unit most of the time this year. Brown, junior Marcee Hufton (9.3 ppg) and freshman Jessica Ficarro look like the top three guards, Dunagan said.
Roanoke was 18-0 in the ODAC last year, but Dunagan listed her team third in the league on a preseason ballot.
``At certain times they look good. At other times you think, `Oh, my gosh, we're in for a long season,''' Dunagan said. ``I'm very uncertain what it's going to be like. But we've got desire, and we've got tradition.''
HOLLINS: Second-year coach Kellie Kennedy has infused a depleted 1993-94 roster with eight freshmen. Four starters return from a team that finished 4-20 last year, including leading scorer and rebounder Sarah Kirby (16.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg) and guard Kelly Robinson, who led the team in assists with four per game.
WASHINGTON AND LEE: Second-year coach Terri Dadio's scraped-together collection of players for W&L's first women's team went 11-10 last year, and Dadio has added five freshmen to the roster.
Junior Sandra Holmes (9.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and point guard Allison Hull (3.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg) anchor the team, which played only five ODAC games last year.
FERRUM: The Panthers, 16-10 a year ago, lost starters Sarah Quesenberry and Niki Claiborne, who combined for 20 points and 13 rebounds per game. Ferrum's top returnee probably is sophomore forward Glossary Smith, who averaged 13.4 points and 10 rebounds en route to becoming an all-Dixie Conference choice.
Six foot four center Tamiko Martin is a strong shot-blocker, and guard Marlo Ferguson-Jamison averaged 8.8 points last year.
Nineteenth-year coach Donna Doonan got her 200th career victory last year and got Ferrum as high as fifth in the NCAA's South Region rankings. It'll be up to Smith to lead them back.
by CNB