ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603050014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: ATLANTIC 10 WOMEN
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
George Washington all-conference center Tajama Abraham scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, leading the Colonials to an 82-61 win over Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament quarterfinals on Saturday at Cassell Coliseum.
The Colonials (23-6), the West division's top seed, used a 20-6 first-half run to build a 40-26 halftime lead against the Musketeers (15-13), the West's No. 5 seed.
Lisa Cermignano (20 points), Myriah Lonergan (18) and Mandisa Turner (10) scored in double figures for George Washington. Xavier was led by Amy Siefring's 11 points.
The Colonials starting frontcourt dominated play, outscoring its opponents 51-27.
George Washington advances to face Massachusetts, the East's No.2 seed, today at 6. The Minutemen beat Virginia Tech, the West's No.3 seed, 64-42.
In other quarterfinal action, West No.2 La Salle downed East No.3 St. Joseph's, 65-62.
The Explorers (18-9) dodged a possible overtime when Hawks (16-12) forward Megan Compain's game-tying 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left was waived off because of a traveling violation.
La Salle was led by Chrissie Donahue's 25 points and 11 rebounds. St.Joseph's placed four players in double figures, led by Compain's 19 points. Compain also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
La Salle moves on to today's 8:30 p.m. semifinal round game where it will face East No.1 Rhode Island, a 90-55 winner over Temple, the East No.5.
The Rams (21-6) forced 25 turnovers and shot 49 percent (34-of-69) from the field in their rout of the tournament long-shot Owls (7-21).
Rhode Island all-conference point guard Danya Smith dished out 15 assists, helping six players reach double figures in scoring, led by Jamie Grey's 17 points.
Claudrena Harold paced Temple with 14 points and six rebounds.
The Owls scored the game's first six points and built an 11-3 lead with 13:21 to play in the first half.
Rhode Island responded by outscoring Temple 35-11 the remainder of the first half, ending any hopes of another Owl upset. Temple defeated Duquesne in the A-10 opening round for only its seventh win of the season.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB