Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503210060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STORRS, CONN. LENGTH: Medium
The answer was supplied Saturday. A Hokie is a mere Chihuahua when placed in the doghouse of a big, strong Husky.
Before a sellout of crowd of 8,241 at their Gampel Pavilion kennel Saturday afternoon, the top-ranked Huskies of Connecticut mauled Virginia Tech 91-45 in the tournament's second round.
The loss was the Hokies' worst in their past 400 games, dating to an 85-36 pasting by Old Dominion in February 1981.
Afterward, Tech coach Carol Alfano explained what it felt like to be red meat thrown to a pack of big, hungry dogs.
``You know that old country western song that goes, `Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield,''' Alfano said. ``Well, we were the bug.''
The bug never had a chance.
Conducting a veritable layup drill in their half-court offense and in transition, the Huskies scored 62 points in the paint compared with 16 for Tech (22-9).
UConn (31-0), the nation's top field-goal shooting team, hit 37 of 61 attempts (60.7 percent) against a Hokies defense that had permitted only three clubs to shoot 50 percent or better this season. The 91 points were the most against Tech (22-9) all season.
Defensing the clever-passing Huskies wasn't the Hokies' only problem.
Tech had trouble offensively, too, as evidenced by a frosty 27.3 shooting percentage (15-of-55) from the floor.
The Hokies didn't exactly handle the ball well, either, committing 29 turnovers.
``Let's face it: UConn is as good as advertised,'' Alfano said. ``Of all the teams we've played - and we've played some good ones like Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia - they're by far the best passing team.
``We usually play better defense than this. But a lot of it was their passing ability. They never take a bad shot. They pass it around until they break your defense down.''
The Huskies sifted through Tech's zone defense in running to a 21-4 lead in the game's first eight minutes. At that point, the Hokies had twice as many turnovers (eight) as points.
``From a coaching standpoint, maybe we shouldn't have come out in zone at first,'' Alfano said. ``We're a man-to-man team, but they're just so big. You've got Angela Donnell at 5-[foot]-10, trying to guard Rebecca Lobo [6-4]. That's a tough matchup.''
Lobo and UConn's other post player, 6-7 Kara Wolters, feasted against Tech's smaller defenders. Lobo had 17 points, 11 rebounds, five block and a career-high eight assists in 27 minutes. Wolters missed only two of 10 shots en route to 17 points. UConn's other frontcourt starter, Jamelle Elliott, had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
When the Huskies couldn't spring somebody open low, All-America guard Jennifer Rizzotti simply snapped the net from outside, hitting three of four 3-point attempts on her way to a game-high 20 points.
Tech's only resistance was offered by forward Christi Osborne and center Jenny Root. Playing in the final game of their stellar Tech careers, Osborne had 19 points and Root 16.
The rest of the Hokies couldn't run with the big dogs. The other Tech players combined for 13 points on 4-of-29 shooting.
The Hokies, who trailed 45-17 at halftime, were down by as many as 51 before UConn coach Geno Auriemma called off the dogs with five minutes to play.
Tech and Alfano had no chance on this day, Auriemma said.
``I told Carol that I didn't think there was anything she could have done to change the outcome of this game,'' Auriemma said. ``Hey, I think we're good. I don't think Tech is bad. They beat Virginia earlier in the year. I don't think they looked good against us. There's a big difference between a top 10 team and one that isn't.''
While the Huskies will go on - they face Saturday night's Duke-Alabama winner in a regional semifinal Thursday at Gampel - the Hokies packed up for the season.
``We've got nothing to be ashamed of,'' Root said. ``Sure, we'd like to have played them a better game. Hey, we're not the only ones they've done this to this season.''
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by CNB