THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120834
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CARTER STRICKLAND, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: WILMINGTON, N.C. LENGTH: 43 lines
Sitting back, hands tucked behind her head, Wendy Larry had a perfect seat for another powerful Old Dominion performance as the second-ranked Lady Monarchs routed UNC Wilmington 97-58 in a game that was over nearly as soon as it began.
``The key is that first five minutes,'' said the Old Dominion head coach, whose team has won 87 of 88 league Colonial Athletic Association games. ``In those first five minutes I thought our team did some really nice things attacking the basket.''
The Monarchs (22-1, 13-0) scored 10 points before the Seahawks (11-11, 4-8) could even get off a shot attempt, and it only took them two minutes not the aforementioned five.
``We knew we had to come out and play hard at the start of the game,'' said senior captain Ticha Penicheiro, who had 14 points and eight assists. ``They played us tough in Norfolk and we thought coming to their home court that it would be tough from the start.''
But according to UNCW head coach Susan Yow, the effort her team gave in a 38-point loss in Norfolk far surpassed the effort expended on Tuesday.
``We just did not have any intensity,'' said Yow. ``We came out here and we were flat.
``When we came off the floor from playing them up there, I had people coming up to me telling me how great our team had played. I know why we lost by one more point here, but when we walked off the floor tonight there was no emotion.''
Old Dominion came out in a full-court press, created turnovers and blitzed to a 12-2 lead. The Seahawks tried to steady themselves and over the next eight minutes were able to outscore the Monarchs 15-4 to cut the lead to nine with :37 remaining in the first half.
After a timeout, the Monarchs put together a 16-0 run and by halftime had a commanding 48-24 lead.
In the second half, the Seahawks could do little to stop the inside presence of the Monarchs.
``I thought that our second-half performance was much improved over our first-half performance,'' said Larry.