THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611030164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 64 lines
Ticha Penicheiro got a little confused during Saturday night's Blue-White exhibition game at the ODU field house.
``First I was on the Blue team, then I was on the White team,'' said the Old Dominion senior point guard. ``I like it better when everybody is on my side.''
Fortunately for Penicheiro, everybody is. That the White swept both the women's and men's games - 48-37 and 61-59, respectively, if you're keeping score - hardly mattered in a night that was all ODU on both sides of the ball. Nor did it mean much that Odell Hodge went 1 of 9 from the foul line and Mark Poag shot 2 of 14 from the floor, said men's coach Jeff Capel. Poag and Hodge were both on the White squad that converted only four of 14 free throws for 28 percent.
``He's on his way right now to the gym to shoot some,'' Capel said of Hodge, who otherwise produced 25 points and 16 rebounds. ``Those (statistics) could make for some long nights, but I don't think either one of those numbers will reflect their percentages throughout the year.''
The women's scrimmage tipped off the night with preseason All-American candidate Clarisse Machanguana leading the way with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. She showed off a brand-new outside jump shot that women's coach Wendy Larry said the senior has been fine-tuning.
``I think she looked to it almost too much tonight'' Larry said. ``But the second half, I thought we did a good job of getting the ball in the paint. It's a difficult thing to play defense against patterns you're familiar with.''
Larry was also impressed with ODU's effort behind the arc - four different players landed treys as both squads shot 50 percent. But she said ODU must improve its offensive boards. ``Our second efforts were non-existent with the exception of Mery (Andrade) and LT (LaToya Small).
Small, a junior college transfer from Pensacola, made a good case for herself as the Lady Monarchs' fifth starter, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds, as the only newcomer to play all 40 minutes.
``I want to contribute, but since this is just us, I wanted to get a feel of working with the team,'' Small said, showing no fatigue. ``Being tired is a mental thing. Time flies when you're having fun.''
On the men's side, Capel has said no starting spot is a lock, but sophomore Cal Bowdler gave himself a boost, going 7 of 16 from the field for 18 points to go along with 12 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals.
``I don't want to single people out, but I was pleasantly surprised with Cal,'' Capel said. ``I thought Cal played really well tonight; he played very aggressively offensively. He's just got to be a little more aggressive defensively.''
Capel had promised a more uptempo offense this season and the Monarchs delivered. ``I was really pleased with the ball movement in the motion offense,'' he said. ``It's the first year we've gone with this offense, and we've done a good job in only three weeks.''
The Monarchs' remained consistent despite the loss of last year's leading scorer Joe Bunn, who Capel dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
``I think early on it was a shock to lose your leading scorer, an all-CAA selection,'' Bowdler said. ``But what we had to do was pick up and look to each other to keep going. It's not the type of thing where we say, `Joe's gone. What are we going to do?' We've had to pick up and move on.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Senior Ticha Penicheiro looks to drive past freshman Natalie Diaz
during ODU's Blue-White exhibition game Saturday. by CNB