Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990 TAG: 9003251883
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long
Virginia put a damper on Tennessee's upcoming party with a 79-75 overtime victory Saturday in the East Region championship game at the Old Dominion Field House.
"I think everybody figured we could get to the final eight, but would we ever get to the Final Four?" said Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, who had lost five previous meetings with the Lady Vols.
"As soon as the pairings came out, I think people thought Tennessee would win the region in a cakewalk."
And, why not? Tennessee had made four straight trips to the Final Four, and had beaten Virginia three years in a row in the regionals. In 1989, the Lady Vols trounced UVa 80-47.
"We started the season with a team meeting," Ryan said. "At that meeting, I brought in a tape of Tennessee. It just happened to be the 30-point loss from last year.
"I said, `Anytime we feel we're feeling a little too good about ourselves, I think I'm going to pop this tape in here.' I never had to show it again."
Virginia (29-5) advances to the NCAA semifinals Friday night in Knoxville, Tenn., against the winner of the West Region final between host Stanford (29-1) and Arkansas (25-4) that got under way at midnight Saturday.
"There's no pressure on us," Ryan said. "We've gone beyond where everyone expected us to go. We were the second seed [in the East], so we'd already done our job."
Virginia also was the second seed in the ACC Tournament, but won its first championship with a 67-64 victory over North Carolina State. The trip to the Final Four will be another first for the Cavaliers, beaten by Tennessee in the region final here in 1988.
"A lot of people think I must have been frustrated," Ryan said. "But the teams Tennessee had were just better than the teams we had in the early years."
There is no questioning Virginia's talent anymore, although, of the nine players used by the Cavaliers on Saturday, six are either freshmen or sophomores.
UVa has exhibited unusual poise for such a young group, especially Saturday, when the Cavaliers thought they had the game won in regulation, then held Tennessee without a field goal in the overtime.
It was the Cavaliers' third victory in as many overtime games and lifted their record to 13-1 in games decided by five points or less.
The heroes included sophomore guard Dawn Staley, who was named tournament MVP after scoring 25 points, and junior forward Tekshia Ward, who had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Ward, beaten for a game-tying basket at the end of regulation, grabbed a key offensive rebound and made a three-point play to put Virginia ahead 77-73 with 53 seconds left in overtime.
"It stuck with me that Tennessee's last basket in regulation was because I didn't box out," Ward said. "In overtime, if I didn't do anything else, I was going to box out."
After Ward's basket, Tennessee's Tonya Edwards hit a pair of free throws with 46 seconds remaining to make it 77-75, but Staley restored UVa's four-point margin with a pull-up jumper with 20 seconds left.
Staley had hit a basket late in regulation after the Cavaliers had gone to a 1-4 offensive set, with the other players clearing out and allowing Staley to go one-and-one with Edwards.
"That's a little play we designed a few years ago for Donna Holt," Ryan said. "It isolates our best penetrating players. Basically, it's Dawn's favorite play."
Ryan said Virginia calls the play "Chicago," because that was Holt's hometown. "It's Philadelphia now," joked Staley, who learned the game on the playgrounds of North Philly.
Staley's basket with 40 seconds left in regulation put the Cavaliers ahead 70-67, but when Edwards hit the first of two free throws with 27 seconds left and then Daedra Charles rebounded the miss, it was tied.
"To be honest, I was a little disappointed," said UVa guard Tammi Reiss, who scored 13 points, including back-to-back buckets to put the Cavaliers ahead 66-62 in regulation. "I thought we had the game locked up and put away."
After taking a 71-70 lead to start the overtime, however, Tennessee (27-6) had three straight turnovers. The Lady Vols missed all four of their shots in the overtime and were 12-of-34 (35.3 percent) after halftime.
"I'm sorry that this team has had the pressure of being the defending national champions and trying to get Tennessee back to Tennessee for the Final Four," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said.
"I compliment the University of Virginia. You think of Virginia and you think of guard play. Yet, in the first half, I think their post game dominated us at times."
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Ward, who had accounted for two points and one rebound Thursday in a 77-71 victory over Providence, had 16 points in the first half Saturday.
"Tennessee plays a half-court, bang-it-in style that was perfect for Tekshia," Ryan said. "She definitely kept us in it. Thank God for Tekshia Ward. She came to play."
The Lady Vols led by seven points on seven different occasions in the first half, but the Cavaliers were able to close to 36-35 at the half.
Virginia shot 65.2 percent in the second half and overtime - one reason it was able to overcome 23 turnovers. The Cavaliers shot 53.6 percent for the game, compared to 41.5 for the Vols.
"I can't say it was a huge upset, but it was an upset," Reiss said. "I think what it does is move Virginia up another level. Maybe now we can be mentioned with some of the elite."
\ VIRGINIA MPFGFTRAFPT Scott 261-10-01313Ward 358-113-5111419Burge 161-70-24242Staley 438-189-993225Reiss 435-103-410213Franklin 150-00-12130Evans 81-10-01132Burge 304-60-15258Smith 92-23-52037Totals 22530-5618-2741132779\ TENNESSEE MPFGFTRAFPT McGhee 271-80-06152Scott 230-40-02130Charles 438-133-10150419Head 447-165-755219Edwards 446-1113-1881225Adams 70-10-01010Harrison 162-60-01124Casteel 162-40-02034Hawhee 51-20-01002Totals 22527-6521-354392275 Rebounds include team rebounds Score by periods: Virginia 35-35-9-79 Tennessee 36-34-5-84
Three-point goals - Virginia: Scott 1-1, Staley 0-2, Reiss 0-1, Totals 1-4. Tennessee: Edwards 0-2, Adams 0-1, Totals 0-3.
Turnovers - Virginia 23 (Staley 8); Tennessee 19 (Charles 7). Blocked shots - Virginia 2 (Burge 2); Tennessee 0. Steals - Virginia 7 (Staley 3); Tennessee 13 (McGhee, Head 3).
Technical fouls - None. Officials - Trammell, Kennedy. Attendance - 2,636.
by CNB