THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090586
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
James Madison couldn't capitalize with its speed and transition game against George Mason Friday. Therefore, the Dukes relied on something a bit more basic - free-throw shooting.
JMU made 14 free throws in the final 3:40 to halt George Mason's upset bid in the Dukes' 74-61 victory in the second semifinal of the Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball tournament at the ODU field house.
The Dukes (21-7) will face conference bully and top-seeded Old Dominion (26-2) in the final at 5 this afternoon.
``The bottom line is this is tournament time and ... on any given day, anything can happen,'' JMU coach Shelia Moorman said. ``We're the clear underdog and we accept that role.''
The role of third-seeded George Mason (17-11) was to play spoiler and prevent the matchup of the top two seeds in the championship game. It looked plausible until the final four minutes.
With George Mason trailing 58-54, Patriot senior guard Keri Chaconas was called for her fifth foul while trying to block Hope Cook's layup attempt with 3:40 left. Chaconas, the conference's leading scorer who was held to five points, argued the call and was given a technical.
Cook made both of her free throws and Krissy Heinbaugh connected on one of the two technicals to stretch the lead to seven points.
With the conference's leading scorer on the bench and trying to play catch up, the Patriots would only score five more points the rest of the way.
Sarah Schrieb, who gave JMU the 58-54 lead on a 3-pointer, finished with game highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds. by CNB