ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 15, 1996 TAG: 9611150043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ODAC WOMEN
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
AMY WORLEY IS COMING into her own as an impact player in the ODAC.
Amy Worley likes the mountains, trees, good poetry and teaching children.
All take time to develop, which may be why she relates so well to them. Given time, they all can become appreciated by many people. Much like Worley.
After playing no more than 10 minutes per game her entire basketball career at Blacksburg High School, Worley blossomed last season as a starting sophomore center at Hollins College. She averaged 17.8 points per game (third in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference) and 11.2 rebounds (first) in arguably the greatest season ever for a Hollins basketball player.
``She's one of those kids who has been building with the program,'' said Roanoke College coach Susan Dunagan, who, like most coaches, hardly recruited Worley when she was a reserve on Blacksburg's two state championship teams of the early 1990s.
At Blacksburg, coach Mickey McGuigan would call Worley off the bench at the end of quarters to try to score quickly. By the beginning of the next quarter, though, the Indians' regulars usually were back in the game. Last year at Hollins, Worley was almost always in the game, averaging 37.4 minutes per contest.
``I never played that much in a season,'' Worley said at Thursday's ODAC women's basketball media day. ``I actually kind of surprised myself.''
Worley really shouldn't have been surprised. Her off-season had been spent climbing her favorite mountains in the area, running around the track and jogging in the swimming pool. Meanwhile, she was working on her child psychology major, writing poetry about relationships and mountains, volunteering with campus substance abuse prevention groups and serving as vice president of the Student Virginia Education Association. ``She really extends herself,'' said Hollins coach Karen J. Harvey.
Worley likely won't have to extend herself as much on the court this season. Hollins has added a 6-2 freshman center, Kelly Johnson, and a freshman point guard from Maine, Sarah Lincoln, who has amazed observers in preseason practice.
``I love playing with Sarah,'' Worley said.
Her coach and teammates love the way Worley plays, too.
``People have always told me I was a game player, not a practice player,'' Worley said. ``I really didn't know what I was capable of.''
BEALE HAVING A BALL: Washington and Lee's new assistant coach is former UVa star forward Charleata Beale. Beale, a 1995 UVa graduate who was her team's defensive player of the year twice, spent a few months last year as a restricted earnings coach at Georgia Tech and considered playing in the new ABL women's pro league. Now she'll try to help the Generals improve on last season's 5-18 mark.
``I really do like it at W&L,'' she said. ``The best thing about it is I don't have coaches' syndrome. I relate to the players just as well. I'm kind of in the middle of things.''
SECOND-YEAR STAR: Former Cave Spring star Aimee Beightol, now at Randolph-Macon College, has been tabbed in Dick Vitale's College Basketball 1996-97 preview as ``arguably the best sophomore in D-III.''
``Everybody's been telling me at school,'' she said. ``I don't know what it says. It kind of surprised me. I guess I have to back it up.''
Beightol was last season's ODAC freshman of the year when she averaged 15.4 points, 4.3 assists and 3.6 steals.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: ODAC Basketball.by CNB