THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110570
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
After a lackluster first half, Old Dominion responded with an intense defensive effort in the second, holding Rutgers to 27 percent shooting in an 82-65 nonconference win Tuesday.
Clarisse Machanguana finished with 31 points, 23 in the second half, for ODU. She became the first Lady Monarch to break the 30-point barrier since Angela Jackson scored 32 against St. Joseph's in the 1990 NCAA tournament.
``We haven't approached this game as business. Sometimes we've allowed our personal feelings to come out on the court,'' ODU coach Wendy Larry said. ``Instead of saying something positive to pick someone up, they're saying something negative.''
The Lady Monarchs went ahead, 7-6, on a bank shot by Machanguana and led the rest of the half. ODU shot only 9 of 22 (41 percent) from the field but was 79 percent (15 of 19) from the line to take a 33-32 lead at the break.
``We were just playing a bad game (in the first half),'' said ODU point guard Ticha Penicheiro. ``We talked about things in the locker room. . . . We knew we had another 20 minutes to play a good game.''
Rutgers' LaWana McLean hit a jumper to open the second half, triggering a run of six lead changes. Penicheiro hit a 3-pointer at 15:45 to give ODU a 43-41 advantage.
Old Dominion (11-2) stepped up the defensive intensity and frustrated the Lady Knights into taking low-percentage shots. At the midway mark of the second half, the Lady Monarchs went on a 11-2 run as Penicheiro found Machanguana with a mismatch under the net for three easy baskets, giving ODU a 57-45 lead with 9:40 left.
``Ticha was a catalyst in the second half . . . but that's the job and role of the quarterback,'' Larry said. ``She has to inspire us not just to score but on defense as well.''
Although Penicheiro had several opportunities to score off her dribble penetration, she preferred to pass the ball to a teammate. Penicheiro finished with a season-high 10 assists but also turned the ball over nine times.
``If you don't enjoy her passes, you aren't human,'' Larry said. ``Ticha's first priority is not to score, and it's something she knows she needs to work on. Even when she goes to the rim, her first thought is, `Should I have passed the ball?' ''
Machanguana, who grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, hit 10 of 13 from the floor in the second half as the Lady Monarchs shot 58 percent from the field. Machanguana made the crowd of 1,003 hold its breath with three minutes left to play, but it wasn't because of anything she did on the court.
Waiting on the sidelines to re-enter the game, Machanguana was knocked over by a player, her head hitting the floor. She stayed down for a minute before heading to the bench, but later came back into the game and hit a turnaround jumper with less than a minute left to pass the 30-point mark.
Liz Hanson led the Lady Knights (5-8) with 24 points. Regina Kalucki added 13. by CNB