The Ladyswish crew went 6-for-6 on our opening night picks (although don't look too closely at our scores), but to be fair, this first batch of matchups was pretty easy to size up.
The results:
Stanford 89, ODU 56: Too big, too good, too cohesive that Cardinal. But an encouraging second half gave Lady Monarchs fans a glimpse of what this group is capable of against mortal teams.
Virginia 68, UMBC 57: Debbie Ryan gets victory No. 700 the hard way as the pesky Retrievers actually led this one until the seven-minute mark of the second half.
George Mason 66, Norfolk State 49: Ashleigh Braxton's long-range bombing spoils an all-things-considered impressive road effort by the Spartans.
Richmond 65, Western Carolina 42: As expected, the deep and experienced Spiders roll.
Virginia Tech 77, Longwood 55: Ever heard of Alyssa Fenyn? Don't worry, you will. The freshman point guard and leader of Tech's youth movement poured in 15 points in a dazzling debut.
Liberty 71, Winston-Salem State 26: Maybe the Lady Flames read our stuff. This one really did play out like an exhibition game.
Speaking of exhibitions, Dawn Evans lit it up as James Madison routed Division II power California (Pa.) 84-63 in preseason action.
No state Division I teams are in action Saturday. On Sunday, Manhattan visits Virginia, and we'll have an extensive report on the Radford-William and Mary contest. Oh, and don't forget Baylor vs. Tennessee at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.
you thought that ODU game was going to b that close???
ReplyDelete