ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 1997 TAG: 9703250120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Old Dominion reached the NCAA semifinal round despite going scoreless in the final 6:35.
Top-seeded Old Dominion's bid for a second women's NCAA championship is alive - barely.
The Lady Monarchs, ranked second in the country, survived going scoreless for the final 6:35 Monday night to beat Florida 53-51 in the Mideast Regional title game.
Reserve Aubry Eblin scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, for the top-seeded Lady Monarchs, who opened a 14-point lead while Florida was missing 10 consecutive shots and making four turnovers.
Old Dominion's reserves scored 22 points, while all of Florida's points came from its starters.
``As ugly as it might have been, we're fortunate to win,'' said Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry. ``The difference in tonight's game was our bench stepped up.''
The Lady Gators trailed 45-36 when DeLisha Milton hit a layup with 12:31 to play. But Milton picked up her third foul on a charge 19 seconds later and got her fourth with 11:26 remaining.
Milton, who finished with 18 points and 19 rebounds and was voted the outstanding player in the regional finals, sat on the bench as Old Dominion (33-1) headed toward its biggest lead, 53-39 with 6:35 left.
That was it offensively for ODU.
``There were times when we stopped attacking the basket,'' Larry said. ``We have to get over that. We became hesitant toward the end and it nearly cost us.''
Milton ended Florida's scoring drought with 6:28 to play and the Gators (24-9) suddenly got back into the game as Old Dominion went scoreless for the rest of the game.
``You've got to hand it to Old Dominion. We knew the battle would be won or lost in the paint, and they contained up there,'' Milton said.
``Everything we ran, Old Dominion had an answer,'' said Florida coach Carol Ross. ``Defensively, Old Dominion set a tone at the beginning of the game. We had to work very hard to get every one of our baskets.''
A 3-pointer by Dana Smith cut Florida's deficit to 53-51 with 1:34 to play. Milton and LaToya Murriel Page each missed from up close in the closing moments.
Florida had one more chance when Old Dominion's Ticha Penicheiro missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 20.6 seconds to go. Unable to get the ball inside, Florida settled for a short jumper by Smith, which missed. Natalie Diaz recovered the rebound for Old Dominion.
``It was a shot Dana hits nine out of 10 times. It just seems like we couldn't finish,'' Ross said.
Old Dominion moves into the Final Four at Cincinnati with a 32-game winning streak. The Lady Monarchs face the winner of the West Regional final between Stanford and Georgia.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Old Dominion's Natalie Diaz (31) andby CNBAubrey Eblin embrace after the Lady Monarchs survived Florida's last
shot and won the Mideast Regional in Lafayette, Ind.