By VIC DORR JR.
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Size could determine
VCU-Richmond outcome

Wednesday’s renewal of the annual Virginia Commonwealth University-University of Richmond women’s basketball rivalry promises to an intriguing – and perhaps a crisp and compelling – game.

The two clubs will meet at the Robins Center in a contest that will match 4-1 VCU against unbeaten (6-0) Richmond. Both teams are deep and swift, and both are playing good – or at least successful – basketball.

Such hasn’t always been the case. Typically, one or the other lurches into the game on two flat tires. But not this year. UR’s start is its best since it began the 2004-05 season with nine consecutive victories. VCU’s only defeat was delivered, by a mere 12 points, by No. 6-ranked North Carolina. Wednesday’s winner will thus take a large stride toward a solid and perhaps a special season.

The clubs are similar in many respects. Neither includes a seasoned point guard among its starters. Neither is dominant beneath the glass. Both rely heavily upon quickness and a procession of fresh bodies, particularly when defending the perimeter.

But there are two significant differences, and both seem to favor VCU. The first: experience. The Rams return three starters from the club that won 26 games last year and reached the second round of the Postseason NIT. The Rams played three games, winning twice, in this year’s Preseason NIT. At times, Richmond puts as many as four freshmen on the floor.

The second: size. Richmond’s tallest starter, 6-3 sophomore Crystal Goring, is mobile but very slender. She and her teammates may find it difficult to cope with Quanitra Hollingsworth, the Rams’ 6-5 senior post player. Hollingsworth rang up her 39th career double-double in last Saturday’s 67-53 victory over Albany.

Richmond won six in a row at VCU’s expense from 2000-2005. The Rams have since won two of three. Expect them to make it three of four on Wednesday.

Dukes’ Evans enjoying
an incandescent start

With all due respect to University of Virginia senior Monica Wright and her 35-point outburst at Tennessee, the most impressive player in the state thus far has been James Madison sophomore point guard Dawn Evans.

Through four games, Evans has delivered numbers that are little shy of remarkable: 30.8 points and 4.0 assists per game. She is shooting 48.5 percent from the floor and 50 percent (20-40) from 3-point range. And she is doing so despite the awareness of every opponent that she is – at this early juncture, at least – the heart and soul of the Dukes’ attack. Evans, a 5-7 whirlwind from Clarksville, Tenn., has taken 67 more shots and made 34 more baskets than any other member of JMU’s lineup. She is responsible for more than 40 percent of her club’s offensive output. 

Evans has been the Dukes’ top scorer in every game this season. She rang up 37 points in an eight-point loss to Boston College and 33 in a 14-point setback at Maryland.

Terrapins coach Brenda Frese delivered a concise and complimentary assessment of Evans’ game.

“The Evans kid is a big-time point guard,” Frese said. “She reminds me of another point guard, one I have the pleasure of coaching.”

That, of course, was a reference to Terrapins senior Kristi Toliver.

Flames are hurting
with Frazee injured

Is there a player in Virginia more valuable to her team than forward Megan Frazee is to Liberty? Almost certainly not. Frazee, a 6-3 senior who was chosen last season as the Times-Dispatch State Player of the Year, will probably miss a fourth consecutive game tonight after suffering a severe ankle sprain in the Flames’ Nov. 21 victory over Cal-Riverside.

Liberty, picked to repeat as Big South champion, has not fared well without Frazee’s 23 points and 10 rebounds per game. The Flames have lost each of the contests Frazee has missed, and have struggled in the process: 51 points per game and a 30.9 shooting percentage.

Flames insiders say Frazee will probably be held out of Tuesday’s game against James Madison. She is regarded as probable for Sunday’s date with Auburn.

ODU’s home streak
faces tough tests

Old Dominion’s Lady Monarchs and Hartford’s Hawks own the nation’s longest Division I home winning streaks at 28 games apiece. ODU will be hard-pressed to extend its streak into 2009. The Lady Monarchs (4-2) play host to reigning NCAA champion Tennessee on Dec. 18 and Maryland on Dec. 21.

The last team to defeat Old Dominion in the Constant Center was – ominously – Tennessee, which rolled to a 75-59 victory on Dec. 22, 2006.

Dribbles…

Virginia Wesleyan guard Jill Weston shattered an 18-year-old program record by sinking eight 3-pointers in the Marlins’ 91-61 victory over Salisbury.  She finished with 31 points…A concern for ODAC preseason favorite Randolph-Macon: keeping talented post player Molly Ariail in the game. Ariail, who is averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds, has fouled out of two of R-MC’s first three contests. She is averaging only 16.3 minutes…Roanoke’s 4-0 start is the fourth in program history but the first since the 1997-98 season.

Virginia Tech trailed for the final 34:09 of Saturday’s 72-43 loss to No. 17 Vanderbilt after trailing for a combined 3:22 during its first five games…Virginia State’s Trojans have fared well at the free-throw line during their 6-1 takeoff. The Trojans have made nearly as many foul shots (133) as their opponents have attempted (147).
   

Posted by Vic Dorr in • College Sports
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