After obliterating the St. Francis Red Flash by 51 points Monday night, the Virginia women's basketball team looks to knock Old Dominion off the edge of the Top 25. Tip-off for Sunday's game at University Hall is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Lady Monarchs will be the toughest competition for the No. 20 Cavs since they faced then-No. 8 Louisiana Tech and Texas in the preseason National Invitation Tournament. Although ODU has started slowly this season, falling to No. 25 in the Coaches Poll and out of the Associated Press rankings, the Cavaliers can't afford to overlook an in-state opponent, especially a program with a history as storied as the Lady Monarchs.
Old Dominion (1-2) is coming off its first victory of the season, a 91-77 win against North Carolina. Corrina Turner, the Monarchs' 6-foot-6 freshman center, poured in 21 points and had 15 rebounds to lead the team.
Turner has picked up the slack in the ODU frontcourt after the team lost preseason Naismith Player of the Year candidate Lucienne Berthieu for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
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Despite the loss of Berthieu, Old Dominion returns three other starters from last year's NCAA Sweet Sixteen team, captains Hamchetou Maiga and Alli Spence and sophomore Okeisha Howard.
Maiga, a 6-1 senior forward, leads the team in scoring and rebounds with 21.0 and 8.0, respectively. She and Turner dominated the frontcourt against Carolina, combining to grab 25 of the Monarchs' 47 rebounds compared to just 33 for the Tar Heels.
In the backcourt, Spence, last year's Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year, directs the offense from the point guard position and leads the team in steals with 19. Howard, a fellow CAA All-Rookie selection from last year, is second on the team with 14.0 points per game but is an abysmal 1-for-19 from three-point range so far this season.
The Cavaliers, who stood at 4-2 before last night's late contest at Virginia Tech, finally are beginning to play together as a team. Since the two NIT losses, the Cavs outscored Loyola (Md.) and St. Francis by an average of 36 points. The improved play can be attributed in part to the Cavs sorting out their previously unsettled point guard situation.
"We're going to do it by committee and I think we realize now what we have to do and how we have to do it," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said.
The committee includes senior Katie Tracy, freshmen Anna Prillaman, Chelsea Whitaker and Safiya Grant and junior Telisha Quarles, who leads the team in scoring with 14.5 ppg and in assists with 13 for the season.
"If I'm not feeling it, than Sly [forward Svetlana Volnaya] is," Quarles said. "And if Sly's not feeling it, then K.T. is"
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