ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611180114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
After seven consecutive conference championships and three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, has Radford women's basketball set such a high standard that anything less would be considered a disappointment?
``That's the way I feel,'' said Lubomyr Lichonczak, preparing for his seventh season as the Highlanders' coach. ``I welcome the pressure. I think pressure's good. I think it forces you to work extremely hard. I think it forces you to prepare for the challenge.''
The Highlanders haven't lost a Big South tournament game since Lichonczak took over as coach, although Radford hasn't always been the favorite, especially this past season. The Highlanders were 2-7 following a five-game losing streak in December.
``I don't know that we've ever stormed our way through the league,'' said Lichonczak, whose women lost twice to regular-season Big South champ North Carolina-Greensboro. ``I think we've been seeded first in the tournament only once out of all those years.''
Radford has benefited from its status as the host team for the tournament, although a move to Lynchburg this year didn't keep the Big South coaches and sports information directors from selecting the Highlanders as their preseason choice for first.
Lichonczak must replace a couple of All-Big South selections in guard Lisa Howard and center Dede Logemann, but 11 players averaged more than 10 minutes last season and six of those return.
A player to watch is Kim Hairston, a 5-foot-5 sophomore from Bassett who averaged 14.4 points to rank second on the team in scoring. Rebecca McNeil, a 6-foot junior from Christiansburg, is Radford's top returning rebounder.
Lichonczak views the season as a progression, which is why he will play North Carolina, Maryland and possibly Duke by the end of December. An upset might help the Highlanders' power rating and improve their seeding if they make the NCAA Tournament again, but don't bet on it.
``I sometimes feel that the people who do the seedings must come from a different planet than I do,'' said Lichonczak, whose team has been sent to Purdue, Florida and Tennessee and lost by an average of more than 42 points.
``For us to get a higher seed, I think we would have to beat a couple of ranked teams and then go through our conference and [conference] tournament totally undefeated.''
Following is a look at the other women's basketball teams covered by The Roanoke Times:
VIRGINIA TECH: Kim Seaver, a 6-3 freshman from Pittsburgh, should have an immediate impact for a Hokies team trying to recover from the loss of last season's prize freshman, Michelle Hollister, who left school Oct.4 for undisclosed personal reasons.
Seaver had 18 points and 12 rebounds against a Byelorussian all-star team and followed that Thursday with a 20-point, 12-rebound outing against Athletes in Action. Tech's other four starters were a combined 4-for-28 from the field in the 82-48 loss to AIA.
``We found out that we can get Kim the ball on the blocks and that Kim can score,'' coach Carol Alfano said. ``She's got great hands. We laugh because Kim isn't the greatest defensive player yet, but what freshman post player is.''
Alfano had hoped Hollister, who had team-high averages of 17.3 points and 9.1 rebounds during the 1995-96 season, would help the Hokies regain respectability after they went 11-17 in their Atlantic 10 Conference debut. They were 22-7 in their final season in the Metro Conference in 1994-95.
The returning players include senior guard Sherry Banks, a graduate of William Byrd High School, and junior forward Lynette Nolley from Floyd County High School. Banks, Nolley and sophomore guard Katie O'Connor all averaged 8.9 to 10.4 points this past season.
``We knew that we were too small last year and that both Kim and [fellow freshman] Meg Hunter would play a lot for us,'' Alfano said. ``What's hurting us now is our guard play. We're not getting a lot of scoring from our guards, but we should have a winning season, no question.''
VIRGINIA: The Cavaliers, a preseason choice for third in the ACC, were picked 10th in the country (first among ACC teams) by The Associated Press, which means coach Debbie Ryan must have done a better job than usual of poor-mouthing her team to the ACC media.
UVa finished first during the regular season for the sixth year in a row and came up three minutes short of making the women's final four. The Cavaliers have won at least 26 games for seven consecutive seasons, a streak that may be difficult to extend with the loss of Wendy Palmer.
Palmer was a two-time ACC player of the year, but she was dogged by injuries, which prepared the Cavaliers for her absence. When healthy, she gave Virginia a powerful inside presence, which the returning or incoming personnel may not provide.
Few teams will have a perimeter game comparable to Virginia's, particularly if junior Monick Foote returns to full strength after off-season surgery. Point guard Tora Suber, a first-team All-ACC selection, averaged more than 23 points in the last eight games of '95-96.
DeMya Walker, hoping for a breakthrough after a solid but unspectacular freshman year, is the top returning frontcourt player. Lisa Hosac, one of the nation's top incoming post prospects, was diagnosed with mononucleosis this week and will be sidelined for two to six weeks.
ROANOKE: The Maroons find themselves in an unfamiliar role as Old Dominion Athletic Conference underdog after Randolph-Macon ended Roanoke's 17-game tournament winning streak with an 84-73 victory in the 1996 championship game.
Nevertheless, coach Susan Dunagan's team received an invitation to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the seventh consecutive year and finished 21-7, the Maroons' 10th straight season with 20 victories or more.
Sophomore Carrie McConnell, a Pulaski County graduate, is the likely successor to leading scorer Marcee Hufton at point guard and will guide a Maroons attack that should be increasingly post-oriented.
Amy Athey, a 6-1 senior from Cave Spring, is the top returning scorer (13.3) for a team that includes Ashley McCallum, a 5-11 senior from William Byrd, and three freshmen who are 5-10 or taller. Suzanne Moore, a 5-4 senior from Blacksburg, provides long-range shooting.
FERRUM: The graduation of senior Kia Williams, the Dixie Conference's player of the year, was anticipated. The departure of sophomore Aimee Barker, who joined Williams on the All-Dixie first team, was not.
Barker, a Bassett High School graduate who averaged 16.4 points this past season, transferred after the season to Savannah (Ga.) College of Art & Design. The move was not related to basketball, but it leaves senior point guard Marlo Ferguson as the Panthers' lone returning double-figure scorer.
If Dixie Conference coach of the year Donna Doonan is to enjoy a fourth consecutive winning season, she will need contributions from at least some of the eight freshmen on the Panthers' 13-player roster.
HOLLINS: It almost goes without saying that Hollins will improve on its 1-23 record of 1995-96, when Karen Jenkins Harvey was named head coach less than three months before the season.
The top five scorers return, led by Amy Worley, a 5-foot-11 junior from Blacksburg. Worley averaged 17.8 points and 11.2 rebounds this past season to rank third and first, respectively, in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
The returning regulars include senior Stacey Davis and sophomore Angie Johnson from James River and sophomore point guard Tanya Holmes from Northside. Hollins has five freshmen, including 6-2 Kelly Johnson, the tallest player on Harvey's 13-player roster.
WASHINGTON AND LEE: The Generals became a better team when then-freshman soccer star Karin Treese joined the squad in January, and they will benefit from Treese's presence this year for the whole season.
W&L (5-18) ended the 1995-96 season with three consecutive losses, but they were by six, nine and 12 points - the last a season-ending 82-70 defeat at Emory & Henry, which had beaten the Generals 70-47 in Lexington. Chrissy Burghardt had a season-high 22 points in that game for W&L.
Burghardt, a 5-8 sophomore, joins junior forward Tonia Dean as W&L's only returning starters. Treese, who scored 18 goals and was named first-team All-ODAC in soccer this fall, was the Generals' fourth-leading scorer in basketball despite starting only two games.
LENGTH: Long : 139 linesby CNB