THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610260522
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 63 lines
The 6,130 folks who came to watch professional women's basketball Friday night at the Robins Center were ready to rock before the game even started.
They stomped to Queen tunes while waiting for their Richmond Rage to take the floor in the team's home opener.
But Richmond couldn't get on a roll and fell 80-72 to a stronger and quicker Jennifer Azzi-led San Jose team.
The Rage received several standing ovations before the first ball was tipped, and none of them involved Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Rage general manager Tammy Holder, dressed in her team's red and black colors, kicked things off by going to midcourt and thanking the folks in the stands. ``You are the reason we have this in Richmond, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.''
Next, Azzi and the Rage's Dawn Staley, two of the ABL's founding players, hugged at halfcourt bringing another roar. San Jose's starters were introduced first and greeted warmly, especially Azzi, who starred with Staley on the Olympic team.
Finally, the lights dimmed as a spotlight appeared, and the fans stood up to welcome Richmond home after a two-game road stint that opened their season last weekend. Kirsten Cummings, who blew out a knee in the preseason, came out in street clothes followed by Joyner-Kersee, and the rest of the Rage players, ending with former U.Va. star Staley. Then Staley and company lobbed rolled-up Rage T-shirts into the stands.
At 20 minutes past post, it was time for tipoff.
Staley was ready. ``I don't care about all the hoopla,'' Staley said. ``I just like to play the game.''
Ah, yes, the game - an effort that almost dampened the pumped-up crowd. The Rage (0-3) started horribly, managing only one shot from the field - a Marta Sobral layup - in the first 10-minute quarter. The Rage never managed to find its offensive setup and had trouble containing the athletic and bigger Lasers (3-1), who have seven players taller than 6 feet to Richmond's four.
``I felt it was important for us to get ahead early because of the crowd and set the tone,'' said San Jose coach Jan Lowrey. ``We wanted to put the damper on 'em. Val Whiting played as good a game as I've seen.''
Whiting led the Lasers with 17 points, and Azzi had 15. Sobral's 21 led the Rage and Adrienne Goodson and Staley each chipped in 16.
Richmond trailed 40-27 at the half. In the second half, the Rage found an unlikely boost in Joyner-Kersee. The six-time Olympic gold medalist, who hadn't played much since her college days at UCLA, immediately pulled down an offensive rebound that she followed with a layup for her only points of the night.
The crowd, that had occasionally been spitting out chants of ``We want Jackie'' loved it. ``I had a chance to guard her,'' Whiting said, ``and she's strong.''
``And she can jump!'' San Jose's Anita Kaplan quipped.
The Rage settled into more of an offensive rhythm in transition during the second half, passing more and going for the low-percentage baskets less. This pleased the bouncing fans who were so eager to cheer, that the blaring of ``YMCA'' got most arms moving. That would have to do on this night, as twice Richmond tied it, but never led.
``We were in the game,'' coach Lisa Boyer said. ``We need to do a bit of work in transition and we need to do some things in boxing out as we're one of the smaller teams in the league. . . . There were a lot of miscues. It's all about having more opportunities to play together.''
Richmond will have another one of those Sunday at 3 p.m. at home against Colorado. by CNB