Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 16, 1994 TAG: 9403160046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Imagine, if you will, that every morning before first light you were awakened by a dull and rhythmic thudding from your garage.
What would be your response if every working day began with the sounds of some hard-headed (or is it hard-hearted?) kid dribbling a basketball back there among the spare tires, the chain saw, and the leaf rake? What would you do?
Would you cover your head with a pillow? Would you bellow in rage? Would you go out and attack the offending basketball with an ice pick?
At Shannan Wilkey's house in basketball-blase Edinboro, Pa., where the aforementioned racket was a sunrise ordeal, the family accepted their noisy fate with resignation.
"I got a lot of hassle out of it," Wilkey said. "But they've given me so much support that I guess they got over it."
Fortunate for Radford University that such was the case, because where would the Lady Highlanders be without their 5-foot-7 senior guard?
Probably not in an NCAA Tournament opening-round game today at Purdue.
Wilkey has scored up a storm this season, including 27 points as Radford upset top-seeded North Carolina-Greensboro for the Big South Conference tournament title that was its ticket to the 64-team carnival.
Wilkey led the Big South in scoring (21.8 points per game) and steals (3.6 per game) and is second on Radford's team in rebounding (5.8 per game), no mean feat for someone who has been playing the game only since the eighth grade.
"Some friends of mine went out for the team and they talked me into going with them," she said. "That was the first time I'd ever played. We didn't even own a basketball."
That would change quickly. First, Wilkey found out the game was rather cool. Shortly thereafter, she discovered she had a lot of catching up to do.
So labor she did.
"I forced myself to get up at 6:30 in the morning to go out in the garage and dribble, jump rope, and do [defensive] sliding drills," she said.
Stepfather John Lenhart, on his way to work, would stop by for a kiss in between dribbles and rope skips.
"I didn't even stop," Wilkey said.
Nor has she much since.
"She's awesome," Radford coach Lubomyr Lichonczak said. "She's got so much energy it's unbelievable. We'll have a tough practice then she'll go out and run two miles. She's going harder at the end of a game than she is at the beginning."
Once Wilkey's eligibility is finished, she intends to take up varsity softball and cross country at Radford.
"She'll probably start in softball; she'll probably be all conference in track," Lichonczak said. "That's how good an athlete she is."
But first, there's the matter of Purdue, the top-seeded team in the West Region.
"We're seeded 16th and they're going to be going, `Radford who?' " she said. "That'll give us the chance to run and shoot and do the things that got us here. It will also give us a chance to experiment."
Sounds risky, but how risky can playing a zone defense be?
Radford, which hasn't used a zone all year, will find out against the Boilermakers.
The Boilermakers, in turn, will find out about keeping up with Wilkey, the nearest thing to a greyhound in sneakers in the college game. She's always out in front of the break and point guard Mindy Ballinger always knows where to find her.
"That's where I get 50 percent of my points," Wilkey said.
Those who know her say it's nice that Wilkey is getting the recognition she deserves from basketball, although she may still remain rather anonymous in some neighborhoods in Edinboro.
"Basketball isn't a big deal there," she said.
It isn't unless you happen to be listening to one being dribbled at dawn.
\ NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES: Ballinger's 128 assists is the second-highest ever for a sophomore at Radford. . . . Lichonczak has been to the NCAA Tournament four times, three as an assistant to then Ohio State coach Tara Van Derveer and once as an assistant to Marianne Stanley at Old Dominion. He's 11-0 in the postseason at Radford. . . . Wilkey was recruited by former Radford coach Charlene Curtis but never played for her. . . . Radford has won 20 or more games in five of the past eight seasons. . . . The game with Purdue will be Radford's second against a Big Ten team. Radford lost 76-56 to Minnesota in 1988. . . . Starter Eve Kendall and reserve Anne Fontaine are from Wytheville. Fontaine will be playing in her second NCAA Tournament this year after having gone to the volleyball tournament last fall. . . . Reserve Patti Fisher is from Roanoke.
by CNB