THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Neither Old Dominion nor Toledo hails from a conference that gets a lot of recognition in women's basketball, but late tonight one of the two will be celebrating a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Colonial Athletic Association champ and No. 2 seed ODU (28-2) meets Mid-American Conference tournament winner and 10th-seed Toledo (25-5) in an East Regional second-round game tonight at 8 at the field house.
``Certainly the Colonial conference hasn't gotten much respect,'' said ODU coach Wendy Larry. ``It ought to be a battle of the unknowns.''
But one thing is certain. The survivor earns a shot at East third-seed Virginia, a 62-43 winner over George Washington, at Charlottesville's University Hall on Saturday.
The Lady Monarchs have not won two games in the NCAA tournament since their national championship season of a decade ago.
``Neither team gets a whole lot of respect,'' said Rockets forward Angela Drake, whose 19.7-point average led the MAC. ``But the difference is Old Dominion is seeded No. 2, and I know they were picked to go to the Final Four. We were picked to lose in the first round.''
Instead, Toledo won its 10th straight game with a 65-53 upset over Mississippi, joining Mid-American regular-season champ Kent, winners over Texas A&M, in the second round.
Larry is at least one coach who respects the Rockets quite a bit.
``They are not only a good basketball team; they are a very, very good basketball team,'' she said, comparing Toledo to Colorado, a top-25 team who ODU beat earlier this season. ``They have strong post play, they're selective in their transition and they're very heady. A very disciplined basketball team.''
Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons, whose Crusaders were crushed by ODU 83-56 in the first round, praised ODU's defensive aggression at the perimeter, and that figures to come into play again. The Rockets are 17th in the nation in 3-point shooting and hit 6 of 16 against Ole Miss, capping a night highlighted by 57 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
``I think their perimeter and post, they complement each other,'' said Shonda Deberry, who with fellow seniors Esther Benjamin and Sarah Willyerd will be playing in her last home game. ``We're just going to have to play them straight up and play very good position defense.''
Toledo coach Mark Ehlen only watched a little of ODU's victory over Holy Cross, but he saw plenty. ``I know I'm going to take my next vacation in Portugual,'' he quipped, acknowledging ODU's starting trio of players with a Portuguese connection. ``They're probably the most physical team we'll play all year.''
Drake is equally impressed with ODU's tall, athletic post players. ``I hope we play zone,'' she said.
Toledo switched to a zone in the second half against Ole Miss, and it worked wonders as the Lady Rebels went 0 for 13 from beyond the arc.
But ODU has seen lots of zone of late - 19 times in sweeping the CAA. And whereas the Lady Rebels lacked the size to dominate the paint, ODU has plenty of post talent. In addition to starters Clarisse Machanguana and Nyree Roberts, Benjamin and Angie Liston provide imposing frontcourt depth.
``We have good size; it's not like we're a bunch of midgets,'' Ehlen said. ``But they've got 6-4 and 6-6 coming off the bench. There's not much comparison.'' by CNB