THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9601030559
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The Old Dominion Lady Monarchs got lost in a dreary rainstorm trying to find their way to the Robins Center but found their range in a 79-36 CAA opener blowout over the University of Richmond.
``We had a little trouble finding the facility,'' said Lady Monarchs coach Wendy Larry. ``We were at a different restaurant and had differences of opinion as far as how to get to the Robins Center.''
But once they got there, Old Dominion found no match in Richmond (4-5). Ten of 13 of the Lady Monarchs scored, led by Nyree Roberts and Clarisse Machanguana with 15 and Shonda DeBerry with 13.
Old Dominion (8-1), ranked 16th in the Associated Press poll, won their fifth straight and eighth in a row over the Spiders.
The Lady Monarchs scored the first eight and held Richmond scoreless for nearly seven minutes. After buckets by the Spiders' Melanie Noise and Mollie McClure made it 14-4, Old Dominion scored the next 10. Richmond's leading scorer, Denise Winn, also the second-leading scorer in the CAA with 17.4 points per game, was held without a basket.
``Our defense is our backbone,'' Larry said. ``Our defensive intensity generates our offensive confidence. The better we are defensively, the better we are offensively.''
Despite the lopsided victory, everything was not all roses for ODU, who shot 35 percent in the first half - below their average but worlds better than the Spiders' 22 percent from the floor.
Sophomore Mery Andrade, the CAA player of the week after scoring 52 points in the Lady Monarchs' weekend tournament victories over host Louisville and then-10th-ranked Colorado in the Cardinal Classic, admitted to feeling a bit tired.
``We've traveled and we practiced yesterday and we practice tomorrow,'' said Andrade. ``We're just trying to keep up our level of play.''
Old Dominion led 32-15 at the half, but opening the second period, the Spiders looked like the team that only lost by five to North Carolina last week. The Lady Monarchs though, quickly snuffed any attempt at a rally with runs of 13-0 and 15-0.
``They were triple teaming our post players,'' Roberts said. ``We just kicked it out to the perimeter. It wasn't any trouble.''
About the only trouble for Old Dominion was an injury to Sarah Willyerd, who went down on a rebound and came up nursing a sore back. Willyerd saw only two minutes of playing time and was treated on the sidelines.
``Right now it's extremely sore,'' said Larry. by CNB