THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090567
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
You've heard of a humbling loss.
Friday night at the ODU field house, the sixth-ranked Lady Monarchs earned a humbling win, knocking off fourth-seeded American 86-66 in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals.
ODU (26-2) will go after a fifth straight conference crown in today's CAA final against James Madison (21-7) at 5 p.m. The game will be televised live on HTS.
``I've been told since I've been a basketball coach that a sign of a good team is to win when you play lousy,'' said Lady Monarchs coach Wendy Larry. ``Collectively we didn't do what we feel like we can do today, against American in particular.''
ODU, which had been playing out-of-this league basketball in sweeping the conference, looked mortal against the Eagles. ODU was plagued by 28 turnovers, the most for the team in two months.
But even on a bad night, the Lady Monarchs are a level better than the CAA. American (16-12) got within eight points of the Lady Monarchs in the second half, closer than any other conference opponent this season.
American led for the first six minutes until Clarisse Machanguana's layup tied the score at 8.
ODU would never trail again. Machanguana, troubled by pain from an extracted wisdom tooth a few days before, looked sharp, behind 11-of-12 shooting for 27 points. For the tournament she's 23 of 26 with 55 points.
Sarah Willyerd came off the bench and hit consecutive 3-pointers and Esther Benjamin added a couple more to pick up ODU after its sluggish start. And when Machanguana's layup gave the Lady Monarchs a 33-17 edge, the ODU roll seemed imminent.
But it never came. Kim Gombola ignited a 13-2 run with 10 of her team-high 14 points and the Eagles were right back in it, down 35-30.
ODU rebounded thanks to Amber Eller, subbing for Ticha Penicheiro, sitting on the bench with two fouls. The sophomore point guard scored seven of her 11 points in the closing minutes, and ODU went into the break up 44-35. No CAA team has been closer at halftime.
Penicheiro, who averages almost 28 minutes, played only nine in the first half.
``Ticha did a poor job initially of executing and attacking,'' Larry said. ``She knows that she's in charge of making things run effectively. I thought Sarah stepped out on the court and did a real good job of picking up the intensity level.''
After Shonda Deberry, 0 for 3 from the field, picked up her second foul to open the second half, Stacy Meeker's perimeter shot pulled the Eagles to within seven. That qualified as suspense to ODU, a team used to beating CAA foes by 43.
But ODU went off and running again, highlighted by Penicheiro nailing consecutive free throws, stealing the inbounds pass and dishing off to Machanguana low, to put the Lady Monarchs up 52-40.
Down the stretch, ODU led by as many as 25 as American resorted to desperation treys, and the frustration showed. The Eagles had fallen 18 points back when their bench was called for a technical foul for protesting Lena Patterson's fourth personal with 4:39 remaining.
American coach Jeff Thatcher, who said his team was boosted by an emotional win Thursday night over Virginia Commonwealth, said his team needed more than the great effort the Eagles gave.
``Balls that go around the rim need to fall out for them sometimes and they didn't; balls that go around the rim need to go in for us, and they didn't sometimes,'' he said. ``Every team has a chink in their armor. I can't find any in theirs.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Old Dominion's Mery Andrade, left, collides with American's Mary
Klima during Friday's CAA semifinal at the ODU field house.
by CNB