THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220624
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 57 lines
There was a little drama Friday night at the Franklin Street Gym in Old Dominion's game versus Virginia Commonwealth.
The outcome was never at stake with the second-ranked Lady Monarchs breezing to their 41st straight Colonial Athletic Association victory, 94-47. But until ODU coach Wendy Larry pulled Clarisse Machanguana from the lineup with 8:42 remaining, it looked as if the senior might outscore the Lady Rams.
Machanguana left the game with 33 points, a career-high; VCU had tallied 34 points by then. That kind of performance was something new for first-year Lady Rams coach David Glass. When the teams played in Norfolk earlier this season, a 93-35 Lady Monarchs victory, Machanguana was out with pneumonia.
``I don't know if there's another woman in college basketball who has her combination of size, strength, athletic ability and quickness,'' Glass said.
``We've got the size and bulk down there, but we don't move our feet nearly as quick laterally as she moves hers. ... We've played Connecticut and we've seen some big players, but she's truly phenomenal.''
Machanguana, 14 of 17 from the floor, brushed off compliments about her night and mentioned all that she could do better - defensive positioning and checkouts over bigger bodies are on a long personal laundry list.
``I don't think I was looking to get that many points,'' she said. ``The situations were created and I just finished more than the other games.''
VCU (12-13, 5-10) looked to start with a decent enough game plan, netting a trio of quick jumpers, but quickly the Lady Rams got bogged down with turnovers - 23 in the first half and 34 for the game. Instead of working the ball down the floor, point Meredith Sisson often opted for lob passes that didn't fly over the heads of 6-foot-5 Machanguana, 6-3 Nyree Roberts and 5-11 Ticha Penicheiro.
``We had talked about what we needed to do, cut to the middle, come to the ball,'' said Glass, openly befuddled by his team's lack of execution. ``We can't throw overhead passes over the head of Machanguana. That's the thing that leads to my frustration.''
ODU (25-1, 15-0) led 43-19 at the half, never allowing the Lady Rams to establish any kind of rhythm outside of Sisson knocking down a handful of 3s and Chevette Waller contributing a spurt of quick jumpers. Sisson led VCU with 15 points; Waller added 14.
Machanguana wasn't the only offensive star for ODU either. Roberts scored 22 on 10-of-16 shooting, Penicheiro had 12 to go with nine assists and Aubrey Eblin hit 3 of 4 3-point trys. That made Eblin the new leader in ODU history in 3-point field goals with a total of 80.
And for the first time in a league game all season, ODU was outrebounded by an opponent. VCU, the tallest team in the CAA outside of the Lady Monarchs, finished with 38 boards to ODU's 37. Offensively, the Lady Rams had a 22-17 advantage.
``I thought VCU battled hard on the boards,'' Larry said. ``Certainly Old Dominion can go away from this game saying if there is one area we can do a much better job, it's keeping people off the offensive glass.''
The regular season ends Sunday when ODU plays at George Mason. The Lady Monarchs have already clinched the top seed. Second place is a battle among Richmond, American and James Madison.