THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190398
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Old Dominion senior Sarah Willyerd has never played the University of Virginia. For a while against Toledo on Monday night at the ODU field house, it looked like she might lose that chance.
But the second-seeded Lady Monarchs survived their closest test this year and held on to beat 10th-seeded Toledo 72-66 in the second round of the NCAA East Regional. ODU meets Virginia on Saturday in the Sweet 16 on the Cavaliers' home court in Charlottesville.
``I thought Toledo did an excellent job of attacking,'' ODU coach Wendy Larry said. ``That's the first time we allowed a team to shoot better than 50 percent in the second half all season. Truthfully, it was fortunate for Old Dominion that the clock ran out.''
But not the season. The Lady Monarchs (29-2) are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1987, and if they forgot what pressure was like, they found out in a hurry.
With everything clicking for ODU in the opening minutes and the Rockets (26-6) looking tentative, it looked as if the rout was on. ODU took a 13-2 lead and held an 18-point edge at the half after knocking down five 3-pointers.
But Toledo didn't wither away like CAA opponents did all season.
``When we went into the locker room, Coach (Mark Ehlen) kind of broke a chalkboard,'' Toledo point guard Heather Smith said. ``This team has a lot of heart, and that's what brought us back.''
Aggressive defense and 52 percent shooting from the field didn't hurt, either. With ODU up 65-44 with just under 12 minutes remaining, the Rockets started making their run - and they did it by outrunning the Lady Monarchs, beating them on transition, something no team had done to them since Tennessee, which handed ODU its last loss.
``They just beat us down the floor,'' Willyerd said. ``We were just kind of watching their shots and not getting back in time.''
Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers and ODU put up bricks from the line, going 1 of 5 in a one-minute span. Kim D'Angelo and Smith added consecutive layups, and with 6:36 remaining, ODU's edge was eight.
``We didn't take care of the ball,'' said Ticha Penicheiro, who had 15 points and 10 assists. ``I don't think we were as focused as we were in the first half. I remember looking at the scoreboard and I think 65 was there for a while, and I was concerned.''
Smith missed a layup that would have trimmed ODU's lead to five, and then missed the front end of a one-and-one after Esther Benjamin picked up her third foul. Clarisse Machanguana put ODU up by 10 off a pass from Penicheiro, but Kim Knuth went end-to-end to make it an eight-point game again.
This time, Benjamin came to the rescue for ODU with a basket in the lane to make it 70-60 with 2:15 remaining.
D'Angelo got it back to eight once more, but Benjamin hit a pair of free throws to put the Lady Monarchs up by 10 with 52 seconds remaining. That sent the sold-out crowd of 4,855 into a ``We want U.Va.'' chant. Smith's 3 with 12 seconds left and a final free throw was all Toledo had left.
Machanguana and Benjamin had 16 points apiece for ODU. Benjamin also led the Lady Monarchs with 10 rebounds.
``Obviously, we can learn a lot from this tape,'' Larry said. ``Clock management and making good decisions. I think collectively we'll review this tape on a number of occasions.''
Despite the victory, the celebration on the ODU sidelines was tempered. A sign, Larry said, of a team that has bigger goals in mind.
``I think this basketball team is excited, but we're kind of saving that for down the road,'' Larry said. ``This team set a goal six months ago to go to the Sweet 16 and to do the best they could up to that, to make a statement nationally.
One of the goals was to be a top 10 team, and obviously to prove that nationally and be a member of the Elite Eight. We feel like we have deserved our ranking certainly throughout the year. This team is capable of doing that and then some.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Old Dominion's Nyree Roberts, right, barrels into Kim D'Angelo of
Toledo on a drive. Roberts was called for the charge.
by CNB