THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080551
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 78 lines
The murmur began with 29.9 seconds left in the Old Dominion field house bleachers.
It turned into a full ``We want UConn'' chant 9.9 seconds later.
The call from the standing-room only crowd of 5,155 given Tuesday's 83-72 stomping of ninth-ranked and defending national champion Tennessee is understandable considering the prognosis for the Lady Monarchs in the next two months. The victory, ODU's first over Tennessee in 14 years, could send the Lady Monarchs into the NCAA Tournament with a 29-1 record if they sweep their Colonial Athletic Association games, as they did a year ago. And all that stands between ODU and the top ranking in the country is No. 1 Connecticut.
``It's that much sweeter when you get a piece of the orange,'' said ODU coach Wendy Larry, who in picking up her 250th career coaching victory also earned her first-ever win over the Lady Vols. ``This is certainly a basketball team that has me believing in them.''
And maybe it's even a tad more sweet when you have to rally to do it. ODU (12-1) turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead in a matter of three minutes midway through the second half. The Lady Vols (10-6), who led 35-33 at halftime, came out of the break firing, and Chamique Holdsclaw's spinning jumper with 15:36 remaining put Tennessee up by 10, its largest lead.
Larry called a timeout and ODU regrouped with an 18-2 run, rattling off 14 consecutive points to get it started. Nyree Roberts hit a couple of layups, Clarisse Machanguana nailed a pair of free throws, Mery Andrade sank a 3 from the top of the key and Aubrey Eblin hit the go-ahead foul shots to give ODU the lead it never lost again.
``We could have easily gone in the tank as we have against Tennessee a couple of times in the past,'' Larry said. ``There were just so many positive things that could have gone negative when we fell behind by 10 early in the second half.''
Eblin was one of them. The sophomore sprained her left ankle Sunday against East Carolina and was questionable for the game. As her ankle was more painful when she sat, Eblin paced the entire game behind the team bench. And much as she did against Stanford, she found her range from behind the arc, hitting two treys in the second half.
``It's a dream come true to play Tennessee,'' Eblin said. ``Going back to last year I had to sit there and watch them play zone and I wanted to shoot. This year I knew they were going to play zone and I knew I needed to play.''
Ticha Penicheiro finished off the ODU run by going 2-for-2 from the foul line, penetrating for a basket and then causing a steal that ended with a layup to put the Lady Monarchs up 55-49. The All-American candidate had a career-high 25 points to go with nine assists, six rebounds and five steals.
Penicheiro said what put ODU back out in front was defensive pressure. ``I think they struggle against pressure,'' she said of Tennessee. ``I saw their game against UConn, and they don't do well against pressure.''
Abby Conklin's 3-pointer brought Tennessee within four, but ODU came up with more treys - one by Penicheiro, another by Andrade - to stay in front.
The Lady Vols were also hurt by foul trouble - starting post players Pashen Thompson and Tiffani Johnson fouled out - and ODU hit 21 of 33 free throws.
Holdsclaw, who scored 14 of her team's first 16 points, finished with a game-high 27. ODU also got 22 by Machanguana and 13 each from Roberts and Andrade. The Lady Monarchs dominated the boards, 40-24 and shot 59 percent from the field.
And although Tennessee now has an uncharacteristic six losses, Penicheiro said it still carries a mystique as the most storied in women's college basketball.
``Everybody knows who Tennessee is; everybody knows who Pat Summitt is,'' she said. ``Just saying Old Dominion beat Tennessee, that's great. It's never happened since I've been a player at Old Dominion. It's a different year and we have to respect them, but they have to fear us, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
ODU's Angie Liston, left, and Nicole Bellinghausen enjoy watching
their teammates making a comeback in the second half of Tuesday's
victory over Tennessee.
Color photo by BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Old Dominion's Ticha Penicheiro battles Tennessee's Brynae Laxton
for a rebound during the Lady Monarchs' victory Tuesday.