THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220546
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 74 lines
This time for the Old Dominion women, it wasn't a question of any 81-point rout of UNC Wilmington.
This time the question was: Just how many 3-pointers would bomber Aubrey Eblin be able to net?
The answer turned out to be eight, a school and Colonial Athletic Association record, as Eblin led the second-ranked Lady Monarchs past the Lady Seahawks 89-51 Tuesday night at the ODU field house.
Eblin was aided by Wilmington's decision to stick with a zone defense for the entire game rather than match up its undersized lineup against an ODU team that made its opponent look like munchkins.
``We knew Eblin would bomb those 3s,'' said Wilmington coach Susan Yow. ``But what do you do? It was hard to match up with them man to man. You just do the best that you can and understand at any point in time they can be explosive.''
In addition to Eblin, Ticha Penicheiro and Stacy Himes hit two treys apiece for a team total of 12 to tie the CAA record.
A year ago the Lady Seahawks (8-8, 1-5) came into ODU's home court only to be ushered out laughably 103-22. That game was part of Wilmington 25-game losing skid that included an 0-16 conference record.
This year's squad, though, won seven of its first nine contests before dropping six of its last seven.
While there would be no embarrassment this year against ODU, there would also be no contest.
ODU (15-1, 5-0) shot 63 percent in the first half, boosted by Eblin nailing four of six 3-pointers. Up by 19 at the half, ODU pulled away after the break as Himes rattling off eight straight points.
Then Eblin hit her next four shots - all 3-pointers. Her left ankle still heavily taped from a sprain three weeks ago at East Carolina, Eblin finished the night 8 of 12 from the 3-point line for 24 points. She also had four assists and three steals.
The eight treys broke her own mark, set earlier this season against Indiana State.
``I love playing against the zone,'' Eblin admitted. ``That's what I like to do. But I've got to learn how to get open when they're playing man, too.''
Inside, Clarisse Machanguana and Nyree Roberts pretty much scored at will, combining for 28 points and 15 rebounds against a Wilmington squad whose tallest starter is 6-feet. But after going 2 of 13 from the perimeter in the last two games, ODU finding its range outside was what ODU coach Wendy Larry acknowledged first.
``We found that outside shooting touch better from the circle than we did from the foul line tonight,'' said Larry, picking on ODU's 9-of-17 effort in free throws. ``As well as Aubrey did shoot the ball, I was equally pleased that Ticha and Stacy were able to do the same.
"Typically what's happened when we've put Aubrey in the game is she's busted the zone wide open and they take the zone out. They come out with a different defense. Wilmington didn't do that.''
Amber Blank had three 3-pointers for Wilmington and led the team with 20 points. Blank, a fifth-year senior who returned to basketball this season after playing softball the last two, is a player Larry said ODU recruited. She gave the Lady Seahawks an charge that they lacked a year ago.
``We got hammered pretty bad,'' Yow said. ``But I thought our team fought really, really hard tonight. It's a really tall order for us to come in to ODU to begin with.''
Seahawks sophomore Shannon Casteel said last year's game took some time to recover from.
``It was a real humbling experience. As a young player it took a while to get over,'' Casteel said. ``We didn't want to come out here and let last year haunt us.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
ODU's LaToya Small, right, steals the ball from UNC Wilmington's
Amber Blank. This Wilmington team was far better than last year's,
which went winless in the CAA, but again was greatly overmatched.