On Saturday night, the University of Virginia women's basketball team will continue the postseason in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). Virginia will face St. Joseph's at 7 p.m. in University Hall. After being left out of the NCAA Tournament, the Cavaliers will look to make a run deep into the WNIT.
St. Joseph's is not known as a traditional basketball powerhouse. Last season they finished a meager 7-23. The Hawks, however, have had a remarkable turnaround in 2006, finishing at 20-10 overall and 10-6 in the Atlantic 10. Virginia finished the season at 18-11 overall and 5-9 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers have been playing very well recently, winning five out of their last six games. Sophomore guard Sharnee Zoll has been a major factor in Virginia's late-season turnaround. Zoll could present significant matchup problems for St. Joseph's.
"Virginia runs everything through Zoll, and she does a great job," St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin said. "She is a very unselfish player, and she's hard to defend because you don't know if she's going to shoot or create for other people. We need to contain her, show her a couple of different looks."
Virginia has had two weeks off to prepare for the WNIT. The break has allowed many players to heal their injuries and get healthy for postseason play. Now that Virginia is at full strength, they will look for increased contributions from other players.
"Zoll is looked at as one of the top point guards in college basketball," assistant coach Jeff House said. "It's no secret that when Zoll is playing well, we as a team play well. Having this break has allowed all of our players to get healthy, and everyone is ready to go. If anyone focuses just on Zoll, other players will have great opportunities to score."
This season, the Cavaliers have had problems with offensive production. The offense especially struggled during a six-game losing streak in the middle of the season. However, veteran players such as senior forward Tiffany Sardin and junior forward Siedah Williams have stepped up their production down the stretch. In the last six games, the Cavaliers have averaged 71 points per game.
"They go through stretches where they don't score, but we're similar in that respect," Griffin said. "We just have to be really smart with our personnel and play the odds of the numbers. We really need to be conscious of Zoll and [junior forward] Brenna McGuire, because they can shoot the ball very well."
Virginia's morale and confidence is high right now, despite not being picked for the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers are looking forward to the WNIT as an opportunity to prove their mettle to the NCAA Selection Committee.
"Getting snubbed by the NCAA Tournament affected us when we first heard the news," House said. "We feel like we did everything we could to get a bid; however, the selection process is not under our control. The best way to prove anyone wrong or show people that we were deserving of a bid is to go out and win the NIT."
The Cavaliers have one of the youngest teams in the nation, but have an opportunity to establish themselves as a premiere team going into next season.
"There are only 100 teams that get to play in the postseason, and we're excited that we're one of those teams," House said. "It's been a long time since we've played, but we've been doing a lot of scrimmaging to maintain our edge going into the tournament."
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