ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603180050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
George Washington women's basketball coach Joe McKeown has had Virginia in the back of his mind since the NCAA pairings were announced.
He finally felt comfortable admitting it Friday.
``If you're George Washington, to be honest with you, you live in Virginia's shadow,'' said McKeown following the Colonials' 83-67 victory over Maine at University Hall.
``We've had six straight 20-win seasons, we got as high as No.6 in 1992 and it's still a battle for newspaper coverage [in Washington]. But, you have to respect what they've done.''
The Cavaliers (24-6) beat Manhattan 100-55 for their 10th straight first-round victory and will bid for their seventh straight trip to the regional semifinals against the Colonials (26-6) today at 2 p.m.
George Washington has lost all seven of its games with Virginia, only one since 1984. The Cavaliers defeated the Colonials 97-58 in the second round in 1992, when UVa made the last of three consecutive appearances in the women's Final Four.
``When you talk about women's college basketball,'' McKeown said, ``you mention Virginia in the same breath as the Tennessees and the Stanfords. They're one of the elite.
``My goal when I took over the program [in 1989-90] was not to beat the Atlantic 10 teams. Don't get me wrong. I wanted to beat the A-10 teams. But my goals was to catch the Virginias, the Penn States, the Rutgerses.''
The Colonials, playing in the NCAAs for the fifth time in six years, made a breakthrough when they won two tournament games in 1995. They started slowly this year, but have won 20 of 21 games since a 6-5 start.
GW is led by 6-foot-2 Tajama Abraham, a junior from Newport News who is averaging 19.5 points and an Atlantic 10-high 9.4 rebounds. Abraham had 22 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots against Maine.
``Tajama's an excellent player,'' said UVa coach Debbie Ryan, who recruited Abraham three years ago. ``She's gotten a lot better since high school. She runs the floor better and has extended her range.''
Abraham is joined on the Colonials' starting front line by 6-2 Mandisa Turner from Charlottesville. Turner's father, Rick, is the dean of African-American affairs at Virginia.
They will face a UVa frontline that features 6-2 senior Wendy Palmer, a second-team All-American. Palmer had 15 points and nine rebounds in only 21 minutes Friday night.
``We've got to work really hard on not letting the great Virginia teams of the last 10, 15 years beat us,'' McKeown said. ``We can't play against the program and the ghost of University Hall.''
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