Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STORRS, CONN. LENGTH: Medium
So Virginia has a good shot in the NCAA East Region women's basketball tournament, right?
Not exactly.
From the sound of things Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion, the Cavaliers are nothing more than the Kato Kaelins of the talent-loaded East. The opinion is the Cavs are great house guests but little else.
After UVa faces eighth-ranked Louisiana Tech (28-4) at 8:30 in tonight's third round, the consensus is the Cavs will be packing their bags and heading home.
``It's fine with us that nobody thinks we can win here,'' said Jenny Boucek, a UVa guard. ``We definitely love that. Even though we had a great regular season, we felt like we were underdogs the majority of the year.
``I think we play better under those conditions. And that's a good thing because we're going to be the underdogs from here on out.''
Such is life in the NCAA women's field this season. If there's ever been a stronger region than the East, UVa coach Debbie Ryan hasn't seen it.
Besides UVa and Louisiana Tech, the East includes top-ranked Connecticut (31-0) and 13th-ranked Alabama (22-8), which square off in tonight's opener at 6.
``Just look at this field,'' Ryan said. ``All four teams have have Final Four experience and everybody except for UConn has Final Four experience on their team right now. That tells you this region is very tough. There are good teams wherever you go, but this is a particularly tough region.''
Tech coach Leon Barmore said the four East survivors would make for a strong Final Four field in some past seasons.
``I thought the Final Four was in Minneapolis. I didn't realize it was in Storrs,'' Barmore cracked.
Making the East even more of a beast for UVa, Tech and Alabama is UConn's edge of playing on its home floor. The Huskies, on cruise control all season, have won 35 straight at Gampel, which will be packed to the rafters with its usual 8,241 customers tonight.
``I think the other three teams here know what they're facing,'' Barmore said. ``UConn has all the pluses on its side. The three teams coming in here will have to play, by far, the best they've ever played to have a shot.
``Alabama has a shot at 'em. I think Virginia and Louisiana Tech would like to have one, too.''
That will be settled tonight. While the Cavaliers and Techsters are perennial NCAA contestants, they never have met in the big show. They split a pair of regular-season meetings in 1986-87 and '88-89.
The Techsters, the East's No.2 seed, made it here by bouncing Furman 90-52 and Oklahoma 48-36 in the first two rounds in Ruston, La. The third-seeded Cavs had to sweat a little more to advance, outlasting upstart Dartmouth 71-68 and besting a strong Florida club 72-67 in Charlottesville.
UVa may be making its ninth straight ``Sweet 16'' appearance, but it will be a decided underdog against Louisiana Tech. The Techsters graduated only one player off last year's club that lost the national title on a last-second shot by North Carolina's Charlotte Smith.
Smith's shot cost Barmore a record fourth national title.
``I'm sure the scar will be there forever inside,'' Barmore said. ``That was tough to take, but you learn in this business to accept it and go on. It's like, `well, we didn't do it last year, so let's take care of business this time.'''
The Techsters are led by All-America guard Vickie Johnson (16.3 points), guard Debra Williams (14 ppg) and 6-foot-4 center Racquel Spurlock (11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 50 blocks).
Besides the quickness of Johnson and Williams, Ryan is most concerned with rebounding. Louisiana Tech leads the country in rebounding margin (14.25).
``The key for us is can we rebound with them,'' Ryan said. ``Like every Louisiana Tech team year-in and year-out, they pound the glass.''
Boucek added: ``I think all five of us are going to have to be aware of rebounding. This is not something we can leave for the post players. Normally you can take for granted that Wendy [Palmer, UVa's 6-2 forward] is going to get the rebounds, but you can't do that against Louisiana Tech at all.''
After Ryan's club dodged Dartmouth's monumental upset bid, it rebounded and played much better in eliminating Florida.
``I feel real good about my team right now,'' Ryan said. ``I think our team has shown up for every big game we've played in. Now every game is a big game and we're a good team against good competition. We usually rise to the occasion.''
Palmer, who leads UVa in scoring (17.7) and rebounding (10.3), said it's nice, for a change, to be the bunch lying in the bushes.
``We've been the hunted all season,'' Palmer said. "Now we're the underdogs and we like it. That role doesn't bother us. It motivates us instead.''
by CNB