THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220671
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
Sarah Willyerd wouldn't have scripted her senior year exactly this way, but she still has time to write a storybook ending.
Being on a Lady Monarchs team bound for the Sweet 16 for the first time in nine years, taking home MVP honors from ODU's own Dial Classic, shooting 47 percent from 3-point range - those chapters are keepers. But losing a starting spot she held for 2 1/2 years and suffering her first major injury - those pages would be scrapped.
``We've won four CAA titles, and that's something I've always wanted - to play for a good program,'' says Willyerd, whose team takes on U.Va. in the East Regional semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday in Charlottesville. ``But in some ways, I don't think I've become the basketball player I could have become.''
Her senior year started great. Friends back home in Flint, Mich., had encouraged her to shoot more, and Willyerd, always a reluctant scorer, decided her shot ``wasn't half bad.'' Early on, she led the nation in 3-pointers. When the Lady Monarchs upset Georgia in their first tournament of the season, Willyerd was named MVP. And as she had in 59 of ODU's 64 games in the last two years, the 5-foot-9 guard-forward was a starter.
That all changed after ODU's Colonial Athletic Association opener in Richmond. Two minutes into the game, she twisted her back coming down after going for a rebound. While it hardly looked like much then, Willyerd says her back had troubled her for weeks. She attributed the gnawing pain to an ankle insert in her shoe. It was supposed to relieve an injury, but ended up throwing the alignment in her back out of whack. She played six minutes in the next two games, then missed two completely.
``I was pretty disappointed because we had some big games coming up,'' says Willyerd, who hadn't missed a practice before this season. ``We were going to play Tennessee, and here I am sitting at home with a back injury.''
She went from sitting at home to sitting on the bench. Willyerd's first real minutes came on Jan. 19 at East Carolina. But by then, Nyree Roberts had replaced her.
Known for her candor, Willyerd will tell you she wasn't bitter, just bothered. ``I expected to step back in,'' she admits. ``I was playing really good basketball. But I was out of shape, and I knew that was one reason I didn't see as many minutes. But it's been a hard transition to go from starting 2 1/2 years to coming off the bench. Real tough.''
Willyerd struggled with her confidence and her focus. She wasn't used to warming up, then sitting for the game's opening minutes. Sometimes, she says. ``I'd find myself spacing out. Sitting there and trying to stay focused about what's going on on the floor is difficult for me.''
Her game began clicking again during ODU's Feb. 9-11 weekend trip to Washington when she scored 30 points against American and George Mason. But Willyerd never regained her spot.
``You go from getting 30 minutes a game to getting half that,'' she says. ``I hate to come out anytime. I can't stand it. If I was hurting the team, if I couldn't pull my weight, then I'd want to come out. But I'm pretty confident in my own abilities, not just my team.''
Her abilities are largely defensive - hustling, floor position, a physical presence. They have helped make the Lady Monarchs probably the most respected defensive team in the nation.
Freshman Nicole Freudig says ODU coach Wendy Larry has pointed to her as the next Willyerd. ``If I'm ready to go in, Sarah will talk to me on the sidelines,'' Freudig says. ``She's taught me shortcuts on defense, like the pick, how to go around the girl. She's showed me how to get open on the wing.''
Labeling herself ``a tomboy to death'' and ``the queen of shortcuts,'' Willyerd learned her trademarks from playing with the neighborhood guys as a third-grader. She played baseball, softball and volleyball to her dad's pleasing and kept her mom happy by ice skating. As a sixth-grader, she was rising at 5:30 to beat the hockey players to the rink in Flint. ``I won a few medals here and there. But once I started playing basketball seriously, that was over,'' she says.
Off-court this semester, she works daily interning at Norfolk Juvenile Court in the intensive probation unit. ``We work with kids who would be committed, but instead they get a suspended commitment,'' she says. ``We would go to a judge and ask for a suspended commitment so the child can remain in the community.'' A counseling/psychology major, Willyerd plans to be a probation officer.
It's a demanding field but perfect for someone so self-critical and always reaching for more. That helped her weather this season, which Willyerd will remind you, is far from over. She's waited for ODU to enjoy this kind of success since the day Anne Donovan called to tell her about a team that had gone 5-21 the year before.
``I always felt we were capable of getting to the Sweet 16, but unfortunately, it didn't happen until now,'' she says. ``I haven't really thought about this season ending. I guess I'm thinking positively. I have a lot of confidence in this team.'' ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Sarah Willyerd was MVP of the Dial Tournament in November. But she
lost her starting spot after a subsequent back injury.
by CNB