BEATING LADY VOLS LIFTS CAVS
by By DAVID TEEL Daily Press , Daily Press
"It's one win in the month of November," she said of the Cavaliers' 83-82 conquest of fifth-ranked Tennessee on Monday.
Uh, forgive our impertinence, Coach, but the Lady Vols are the two-time defending national champs. And you were on the road.
Oh, and you were absent two starters: an all-conference senior forward who unimaginably drove herself into an academic ditch, and an undervalued guard who blew out a knee!
Ryan reconsidered the proposition.
"That definitely adds to the satisfaction," she said. "That makes it really sweet, actually."
Now that's more like it.
As Ryan prepares her short-handed, 16th-ranked Cavaliers (2-0) for tonight's game at No. 25 Old Dominion (2-1), there's an undeniable vibe about the program. A vibe that approaches the early '90s, when Virginia played in three conSECutive Final Fours.
The Cavaliers vanished from ACC , let alone national, prominence in 2006 and '07 when they endured their first conSECutive losing conference records since 1982 and '83. But Ryan, who built the program from scratch and whipped pancreatic cancer along the way, is nothing if not stubborn, and she wasn't about to go out like this.
Sure enough, recruiting perked up, and last season Virginia went 10-4 in the thorny ACC and advanced to the SECond round of the NCAA tournament.
There the Cavaliers encountered the Lady Monarchs, at ODU's Constant Center, losing an overtime epic 88-85 on Jazz Walters' 3-pointer with 4.8 SEConds remaining.
Ryan, a 2008 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, expected to return four starters from that squad and scheduled ACCordingly. Hence the back-to-back games at Tennessee and ODU.
But Paulisha Kellum sustained a season-ending knee injury, and Lyndra Littles turned up academically ineligible for the first semester - at least. Littles was Virginia's No. 2 scorer and rebounder last season and was never better than against the Lady Monarchs, whom she lit up for 29 points and 14 rebounds.
Without Littles and Kellum on Monday, the Cavaliers rode Monica Wright's 35 points to their first road victory against a top-10 opponent since a 2000 upset of North Carolina State. But Ryan - this is her 32nd season, and she's 23 victories shy of 700 - has come to expect as much from her first-team, All- ACC forward.
What impressed her more were freshmen such as guard Whitny Edwards and forward Chelsea Shine. Edwards scored 13 points, 11 in the SECond half, while Shine contributed four points and six rebounds in 24 minutes, many after incurring a black eye from incidental contact.
"We saw a lot of kids grow up before our very eyes that night," Ryan said.
"They didn't always do the right thing. They didn't always play great. But they did what they had to do to win, which is pretty amazing in that environment."
And if you think those rookies are good, wait until next season. Last week Ryan signed a five-player recruiting class that is rated among the nation's top 10 by several scouting services.
The prospects are: guard China Crosby from New York, center Simone Eqwu of Odenton, Md., guard Lexie Gerson of Fort Washington, Pa., forward Tella McCall of Marietta, Ga., and center Erinn Thompson of Winston-Salem, N.C.
The lone downer came early this week when ACClaimed guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt of Alexandria chose North Carolina over Virginia. A staple of Boo Williams' Hampton Roads' based summer program, Ruffin-Pratt last season led T.C. Williams to an undefeated record and Group AAA state championship.
Virginia opened the season with a routine thumping of High Point, but there was nothing routine about Monday. Ryan was 1-11 against Tennessee, including an overtime defeat in the 1991 national championship game.
Tonight presents another challenge. ODU is fresh off a 34-point loss at No. 14 Texas on Monday, but the Lady Monarchs have won 26 conSECutive games at home. Ryan, who also scheduled Gonzaga, Louisiana Tech and Georgia this season, believes her team is prepared.
"We've brought ourselves back where we want to be," she said. "Back to the upper echelon, in position to win the ACC ."
David Teel can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com For more from Teel, read his blog at dailypress.com/teeltime.
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