THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503120478
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
On Monday, James Madison's Sarah Schreib was frustrated. The Dukes were heading to Norfolk soon for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, and practice wasn't going well.
After a particularly bad series of missed shots, Schreib walked over to the hoop support and half-heartedly slapped the stanchion.
Practice got even worse when the stanchion bit back, breaking Schreib's right hand.
``I must have caught it at the wrong angle. ... I didn't put a lot behind (the slap),'' said Schreib, an All-CAA forward.
Schreib wore a soft cast to Norfolk but didn't see action in the tournament until Saturday, when JMU faced Old Dominion in the final.
The Dukes struggled at both ends of the floor in the opening minutes, and after much pleading by Schreib, coach Sheila Moorman put the redshirt sophomore in the game at the 14:43 mark.
``Sarah had developed into our best post defender, even though she's only 5-foot-11,'' said Moorman. ``I thought she gave us an emotional lift when she went in.''
Schreib scored JMU's first basket at 13:22 on a lefthanded put-back. She grabbed three key rebounds - all offensive - and saved a ball going out of bounds by throwing it off an ODU player.
The second half wasn't as kind. With less than four minutes left to play, Schreib collided with ODU's Esther Benjamin on a shot and was fouled. Her right hand got pinned against the ball, aggravating the injury as she fell to the floor.
``I was surprised she went that long without it happening,'' said Moorman.
Instead of allowing Moorman to substitute in a player, Schreib elected to take the foul shots herself.
``I didn't care how bad I hurt, I was going to try and put those free throws in,'' she said.
Shooting lefthanded, Schreib banged the first off the rim. The second attempt skimmed the bottom of the net, prompting the partisan crowd of 3,801 to chant ``Airball!''
``I kind of laughed at them a little,'' said Schreib of the crowd. ``I was trying to laugh off the pain a little bit, but it didn't work.''
Schreib sat on the bench the rest of the game with two huge ice packs sandwiching her hand. JMU went home with a 63-44 loss.
``I thought it took guts for her to get up there and shoot the free throws,'' teammate Kara Ratliff said. ``She gave everthing she could, and we all knew it.
``She's the toughest person I've ever known.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Sarah Schreib gets ice treatment on her broken hand and
congratulations from her James Madison teammates.
by CNB