THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601220127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The Colonial Athletic Association cellar-dwellers, UNC-Wilmington, met the conference queens, the Lady Monarchs, Sunday afternoon at the ODU field house and got crowned 103-22.
And while the game was ugly at times, 15th-ranked ODU (13-2, 5-0) put up some pretty numbers, starting with Clarisse Machanguana's career day. The 6-foot-5 forward from Mozambique was 13 of 18 from the field for a career-high 32 points. She also pulled down nine rebounds to go with four steals and four assists - all in 23 minutes.
Appropriately, she netted ODU's 100th point - the first time in five-plus seasons the Lady Monarchs have reached that mark - while standing at the free-throw line. But that was news to Machanguana, who was so focused, she didn't realize ODU had reached triple figures despite the ovation from the 1,523 folks in the stands.
``I thought they were cheering because I had my career high,'' Machanguana said. ``And then Aubrey (Eblin) came up and patted me real hard. I was like, `What in the world are they all excited about?' ''
The anticipation of a 100-point ODU effort was easily the only drama in this contest, which the Lady Monarchs dominated from the tip. The Lady Seahawks (2-13, 0-5), who dropped their ninth straight, have beaten only Coastal Carolina and Wofford this season. Their 4-of-19 performance from the field in the first half put them down a crushing 51-9 at the break.
The 81-point final margin was well shy of the Division I record, set by Louisiana Tech in a 126-25 victory against Texas-Pan American in 1989. The spread also fell short of the Monarchs' 95-10 victory over Christopher Newport in 1971. The Monarchs set a school record with 30 steals, eight shy of Grambling's NCAA record.
In addition to the obvious, ODU coach Wendy Larry was pleased with the Lady Monarchs' clean play. They turned the ball over 11 times in the game while forcing UNC-W into 48 turnovers - the most ever by an ODU foe.
``I thought that was excellent,'' Larry said. ``One of our goals was to keep our turnovers below 15, and we did that. We also felt like with what they were averaging in their turnover column, that we could force over 30, and we did that.''
The Lady Seahawks' lack of height and bench depth - they dress only nine players - hurt against a squad that Larry calls ODU's deepest in a decade.
``When we have a decisive height advantage, which we did, it's a game we should dominate in the paint, and Clarisse was able to finish on a lot of those shots,'' Larry said. ``And board over a lot of those people.''
Machanguana was on such a roll that she got a little creative with the pass, a la Ticha Penicheiro. She got the assist - one of the 29 ODU recorded on the day - after a second-half, behind-the-back bounce pass to Mery Andrade that put the Lady Monarchs up 67-14.
``I didn't even know that I did that,'' Machanguana admitted. ``Before I came to the United States and before playing in Portugal, I used to play point guard and do that kind of pass. We do it in practice. If I do that kind of pass in the middle of a tie game, I'm on the bench.'' by CNB