WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Struggling Old Dominion took a tugboat to River City for the Women's Final Four instead of the sleek yacht that brought them to Monday night's NCAA Mideast Region championship as the No. 1 seed.
The Lady Monarchs didn't score during the game's final 6:35 and couldn't make reservations for Cincinnati until Florida guard Dana Smith missed a last-second leaning eight-foot jumper in the lane as ODU held off the Gators 53-51 at Mackey Arena.
ODU, one of women basketball's flagship programs, goes for its fourth national title and the first in the 1990s when it plays the winner of Stanford-Georgia on Friday in a national semifinal at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum.
''For the last six months we've talked about who's in this boat and at times how different people have to pilot it,'' said ODU coach Wendy Larry, after navigating her program to its first Final Four in 12 years.
''Certainly tonight it was our bench, which has been questioned all year,'' Larry said. ''Our bench was the difference.''
Naturally, the Lady Monarchs (33-1) turned to an Ohio kid. Sophomore guard Aubrey Eblin, their three-point ace from Chillicothe, scored a team-high 15 points, six more than her average. Eblin and freshman Natalie Diaz, another reserve guard averaging two points per game, had 12 points in the final 4:44 of the first half as ODU took a 32-27 halftime lead.
''Only in my dreams,'' said Eblin, when asked if she had ever thought this could have happened. ''Last year when we got beat by Virginia (in the NCAA Tournament, coach (assistant Alisa) Scott told me, 'Next year, we're going to Cincinnati. We're going to take you home.'''
Instead, the 5-foot-8 Eblin, playing with All-American point guard Ticha Penicheiro and two premier post players in Nyree Roberts and Clarisse Machanguana, took them home as a member of the all-tournament team.
''I thought the game would be decided in the paint and I thought we did a good job on them,'' said DeLisha Milton, Florida's All-American center who finished with 18 points and 19 rebounds. ''But they had a player, her number was 12, who hit some big shots.''
The big players didn't make the big shots after Penicheiro made a gorgeous no-look pass behind her to Mery Andrade for a layup that made it 53-39. On their next to last possession, Milton and Murriel Page missed what would have been tying layups for the Gators. And for ODU, Penicheiro missed the front end of a one-and-one foul situation to set up Florida's last chance with 20 seconds left.
''They were defending the three-point shot, they didn't give it to us,'' said Smith, who took the dribble penetration the defense gave her.
The Lady Monarchs were a mess at the end of the first half. Roberts and Machanguana, their leading scorers and rebounders, would combine for two points and three rebounds in the half. And Penicheiro took a shot in the mouth in the final three minutes and wasn't on the floor.
But ''F Troop,'' pushed ODU to the half-time lead. Diaz, drained two jumpers, and Eblin, the designated gunner, sifted a three-pointer and made three free throws after getting fouled shooting another bomb. When Diaz hit a running jumper with 1:33 left in the half, ODU had gained control of the game at 32-24.
Notre Dame 62, George Washington 52
Tennessee 91, UConn 81
Stanford 82, Georgia 47
FINAL FOUR WEEK EVENTS
TIM SULLIVAN COLUMN
FLORIDA (51)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Page 39 4-11 1-2 5-14 1 0 9
Bingham 40 2-9 0-0 2-2 3 2 6
D Milton 34 7-18 4-5 7-19 0 4 18
Hudson 38 6-14 3-5 3-7 7 3 15
Smith 34 1-8 0-0 2-2 3 3 3
Travis 6 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Wright 8 0-3 0-0 1-1 1 1 0
Freeman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 20-65 8-12 20-46 15 13 51
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Percentages: FG-.308, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
3-10, .300 (Bingham 2-5, Smith 1-5). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (D Milton 2,
Bingham, Hudson). Turnovers: 21 (D Milton 8,
Hudson 5, Smith 5, Bingham, Page, Travis).
Steals: 13 (Bingham 3, D Milton 3, Hudson 3, Page
2, Smith, Wright).
OLD DOMINION (53)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Machanguana 39 3-8 0-0 2-6 1 0 6
Andrade 33 4-8 1-3 3-9 1 4 10
Roberts 38 3-9 0-2 2-5 1 4 6
Penichiero 35 4-11 1-3 3-8 5 4 9
Himes 14 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Eblin 16 3-12 6-6 1-2 0 0 15
Small 6 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 0
Diaz 15 3-6 0-0 1-5 3 0 7
Eller 2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Bradley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 20-57 8-14 13-38 13 14 53
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Percentages: FG-.351, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (Andrade 1-2, Penichiero 0-3, Eblin
3-11, Diaz 1-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
5 (Penichiero 3, Roberts, Andrade). Turnovers: 21
(Machanguana 5, Penichiero 5, Andrade 3, Diaz 3,
Roberts 2, Eblin, Himes). Steals: 8 (Penichiero
5, Andrade, Diaz, Machanguana).
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Florida 27 24 - 51
Old Dominion 32 21 - 53
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Technical fouls: None. A: 2,742. Officials: Dee
Kantner, Stan Gaxiola, Jerry Gibbons.
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