DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290499

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   62 lines

ODU LOOKING FOR COHESION LADY MONARCHS TAKE ON QUINNIPIAC TODAY IN THE DIAL CLASSIC OPENER.

After posting two victories over ranked teams, the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs will likely get a breather this afternoon in the first game of their Dial Classic.

Second-ranked ODU plays Quinnipiac College at 2 p.m. in the field house. Penn State takes on Louisville in the second game, with today's two winners meeting in Sunday's championship. Both ODU games will be on HTS.

Quinnipiac, with a student body of 5,571, is located in Hamden, Conn., , just outside New Haven. The Braves, with losses to Colgate, New Haven and American International, have only beaten Saint Michael's. Members of the Northeast-10 conference, the Braves are in a transition year with their move from Division II to Division I set for next fall.

Quinnipiac returns its five starters, led by sophomore Jamie Buttner, but is overmatched against an ODU team that has won 36 of its last 38 games. Despite victories over No. 7 Illinois and a 72-62 win over No. 25 Purdue on Wednesday, ODU coach Wendy Larry acknowledged that the Lady Monarchs are still struggling to find cohesion. Against Purdue that sluggishness translated into six ODU points in the first 13 minutes.

Much of that could be attributed to Nyree Roberts not joining the lineup until 4:20 had ticked off the clock. The senior missed her first start since her sophomore year because of a ``violation of team expectations'' that Larry declined further comment on.

But Larry would elaborate on the lack of chemistry on the floor that hindered ODU against an upset-minded Purdue team that had just come off a win over Stanford.

``There are times when our chemistry really stinks,'' Larry said. ``For this basketball team to play the schedule it has to play, we've got to have people pick up their level of intensity.

``Collectively, we're looking for people like LaToya Small to come off the bench and give us a lift and not be tentative. We've got to have that with Emmora Keenan as well. Obviously Aubrey Eblin is doing that coming off the bench, but we need more than one person.''

Eblin, who has scored 43 points in the first two games despite averaging just 16 minutes, leads ODU in scoring, followed by Roberts with 36 points. Ticha Penicheiro, hampered by a sprained left mid-foot, played all 40 minutes against Purdue, contributing eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

``We've got to communicate more,'' Penicheiro said. ``Stop reaching on defense and execute more on offense.''

In both of its games, ODU has been outrebounded and blown big leads. The Illini erased a 21-point deficit and got to within one point. The Boilermakers trailed by 15 before pulling to within five under the two minute mark. ODU will need a better effort next weekend when Louisiana Tech is the likely opponent in the final of the Central Fidelity tournament.

But this weekend the Lady Monarchs are favored to win their fourth straight Dial. They are 4-0 against the field.

Penn State and Louisville received votes in the USA Today preseason poll. The Lady Lions (2-1) return two starters, led by sophomore guard Helen Darling. Louisville (1-1) lost to No. 17 Western Kentucky 89-73 in its opener. ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

ODU's Aubrey Eblin fouls Purdue's Ukari Figgs Wednesday night. Eblin

has scored 43 points in the first two games and leads ODU in

scoring.

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