THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411270233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
There is only one word to describe the way the Old Dominion women's basketball team played in their season opener - ugly.
The Lady Monarchs couldn't shoot, couldn't rebound and couldn't put Syracuse away when they had the chance Saturday in the opening round of the Dial Soap Classic at Old Dominion's field house. It was only their suffocating man-to-man defense, the Lady Monarchs' strong suit, that kept the game close and allowed Old Dominion to escape with a 54-53 win over the Orangewomen.
``They say the sign of a good team is when you can be ugly and still win the game,'' ODU coach Wendy Larry said. ``Tonight it wasn't pretty, but it was still a win.''
In the early going, neither team played as if winning the game were a top priority. Old Dominion (1-0) shot 31 percent (9-for-29) from the floor. The up side, if you could call it that, was the Orangewomen's shooting percentage was even worse at 27.8 percent (5-for-18).
It was free throws that kept Syracuse (0-1) alive in the first half. The Orangewomen hit 8-of-9, while Old Dominion missed all six of its attempts and trailed 23-18 at halftime.
``We play ugly,'' Syracuse coach Marianna Freeman said. ``We try to get teams to play like us, and if we can do that, we know we'll be in the game.''
It was more of the same in the second half. Old Dominion extended its lead to 10 points, 38-28, with 13 minutes left to play, but let down mentally and allowed Syracuse to score six straight.
ODU surged on the back of freshman Amber Eller, but the Monarchs then let Syracuse chip away at the lead and draw within 51-47 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Melayne Cromwell.
Old Dominion's Nyree Roberts was fouled by Cromwell on a layup on the ensuing possession and hit the free throw for a three-point play and a seven-point lead.
But just when it looked like the Lady Monarchs had control, the Orangewomen grabbed it back with a play that knocked Old Dominion point guard Ticha Penicheiro out of the game.
After Roberts' free throw, Syracuse's Mary Duffy took the inbounds pass. Penicheiro moved over to defend and Duffy got her elbows up, leveling Penicheiro with a blow that broke the sophomore's nose and left her motionless on the floor.
The Orangewomen went on a 6-0 run and cut Old Dominion's lead to 54-53 on a three-point play by Kristyn Cook and Cromwell's third 3-pointer.
Eller had the chance to finish Syracuse off down the stretch but missed the front end of a one-and-one twice with less than 15 seconds left to play.
The Orangewomen got the ball back with five seconds left but couldn't get the inbounds attempt past ODU's Sarah Willyerd.
With 2.7 seconds left on the clock, Syracuse again tried to bring the ball in from out of bounds. The Lady Monarchs answered with another defensive gem as Eller intercepted the pass from Cromwell and ran down the court to seal the win.
``Our defense, no question, kept us in the game, because it wasn't our offense. Just look at the numbers,'' said Larry, whose team shot 37 percent from the field.
Shonda Deberry led ODU with 14 points, including 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Penicheiro, who had six points and eight steals, is day-to-day with the broken nose and is the fourth Lady Monarchs guard to be felled by injury.
If Penicheiro is out, Eller will start for ODU in the point guard spot against Duke, an 89-49 winner over Montana, in the finals today at 3 p.m.
U.VA. WOMEN WIN: Wendy Palmer scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds Saturday as No. 8 Virginia held off a late charge to post a 60-56 victory over Arizona in the consolation round of the Rainbow Wahine Classic tournament in Honolulu. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
ODU point guard Patricia Penicheiro snags the ball from Syracuse's
Raquel Nurse Saturday.
by CNB