THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The seventh-ranked Lady Monarchs ended their conference season the way they began it two months ago: with a blowout. This time, William and Mary took the loss, an 86-44 pounding Sunday afternoon at William and Mary Hall.
The victory gave ODU (24-2, 16-0 Colonial Athletic Association) a clean sweep of the conference with an impressive league scoring margin to boot. The Lady Monarchs, winners of 14 straight, ripped CAA rivals by an average score of 90-47 this season and never trailed in the second half.
``We're ready to move on to the next level,'' sophomore point guard Amber Eller said. ``We were more psyched today than usual because we knew this would clinch a perfect regular season. We came out real hard in the first half.''
But before ODU learns its NCAA tournament fate next Sunday with the unveiling of the brackets, the Lady Monarchs must play host to the conference tournament. Top-seeded ODU plays its first game at 1 p.m. Thursday against the winner of Wednesday's play-in game between UNC-Wilmington and Richmond.
``It's unbelievable; it's a very difficult task,'' ODU coach Wendy Larry said of the Lady Monarchs' conference sweep. ``When you don't get it, like last year, you have a greater appreciation when it happens.''
While the CAA is no SEC, other teams that dominate their leagues did not match ODU's feat this season. ``For what it's worth, Texas Tech didn't do it. UConn didn't do it,'' Larry said.
ODU, which beat William and Mary 105-50 last month, did it again Sunday with the same weapons. They forced the Tribe (14-12, 6-10) into 35 turnovers while recording 23 steals. They continued their brand of intimidation defense on a smaller, younger William and Mary team that had trouble converting uncontested layups.
Clarisse Machanguana led the way, hitting 10 of 13 from the field for 23 points, and Mery Andrade scored 13. Point guard Ticha Penicheiro scored only five points but still managed a double-double: 10 assists and 10 steals.
ODU spread its offense in the first half, earning most of its points on sharp outside shooting starting with Andrade, who hit her first two attempts from the perimeter. With 8:01 remaining before the break, Andrade had 11 points as the Lady Monarchs led 25-11.
The Tribe's 6-of-20 effort from the field put them in a 41-18 hole at halftime, and it never bounced back. ODU got off a 10-0 run early in the second half, and William and Mary's woes from the field continued as it managed only 9 of 25 (36 percent).
Despite the rout, the Lady Monarchs say they are not exactly where they want to be, heading into postseason.
What can they improve?
``Free throws,'' said Andrade. The Lady Monarchs hit 16 of 23 for the game after making only 5 of 10 in the first half. Wednesday against James Madison, they missed the front end of seven one-and-ones.
She added that there are other things ODU needs to work on before the national tournament: ``checking out, rebounds and finishing the easy things.''
It only promises to get harder for the Lady Monarchs. Eller said they will be careful to avoid the kind of letdown that left them first-round losers to Florida International last year.
``We were looking forward to postseason last year just as much as this year, but being that we were so young, nobody had experienced it except for a couple of players,'' Eller said. ``We know everybody's out for blood in the tournament. You lose, you're out.'' by CNB