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

DATE: MONDAY, February 27, 1995                   TAG: 9502280059
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE WOMEN DRAW FERRUM IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Roanoke women found out Sunday night they will travel about an hour down the road to Ferrum on Wednesday to take on the Panthers in a first-round, South Region game of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Roanoke men's team earned an at-large bid to the tournament and is off to Maryville, Tenn., on Thursday to face Maryville in a South Region game.

The Ferrum and Roanoke women's teams earned automatic berths to the South Region by winning their respective league tournaments. Ferrum is champion of the Dixie Conference, and Roanoke won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament title.

Ferrum (18-8) is the No.4 seed, and Roanoke (22-5) is No.5. The teams did not play each other this season but share a few common opponents.

Roanoke beat top-seeded Maryville (21-4), and Ferrum lost to the Scots twice. Ferrum split this season with No.7 seed Christopher Newport (17-8), and the Roanoke women lost to the Captains in their only meeting.

All first-round games are played at campus sites, usually at the highest seed. However, the NCAA takes into account proximity and facilities when determining host schools.

Roanoke coach Susan Dunagan said, with the Maroons' record, she was disappointed Roanoke did not earn a higher seed and the right to play host to a first-round game.

``It's difficult to understand how the seedings go,'' Dunagan said. ``They take into account strength of schedule and `significant' wins. But it's a fine line [the Division III women's basketball committee] uses to determine it.''

``We're just going to make the best of the situation. I thought our tournament was extremely tough. Now we've got a short amount of time to get everyone healthy.''

Hampden-Sydney (25-2), which won the ODAC men's tournament, is the South Region's top seed and will play host to No.8 Christopher Newport of the Dixie on Thursday.

On the other side of the men's South bracket, Roanoke (19-8) earned the No.6 seed, and Maryville (19-6) is No.2.

``We feel good going into this game,'' said Roanoke coach Page Moir, whose Maroons played some of their best basketball of the season in the ODAC Tournament.

``We've had a good week of practice and we've been able to maintain a high level of intensity.''

The Maroons lost in the ODAC Tournament title game to Hampden-Sydney, the same team that knocked them out of the national tournament last season in the second round. This year, the teams would have to advance to the South Region championship (final eight) to play each other.

The men's and women's tournaments expanded to 64 teams this season.