Thursday, January 13, 2011

Scheduling changes part of Thursday's big hoops day

Note the following scheduling changes:

ODU at Georgia State has been moved to a 5 p.m. start;

Virginia at Georgia Tech is now a 4 p.m. tip;

Drexel at James Madison has been moved to 6 p.m. and will be part of a doubleheader with the men's team.

Thursday's games

Old Dominion (9-5, 3-0 CAA) at Georgia State (6-8, 1-2 CAA), 5 p.m.
Sunday's 71-55 beatdown of James Madison was the Lady Monarchs' fifth in six games. With new coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener and several new players, this GSU teams doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to the Panther squads that have given ODU fits in Atlanta the last two years (ODU lost by 13 two years ago and needed a Tia Lewis layup with 2 seconds left to pull out a one-point decision last year). The Panthers rebound well and have a nice shot-blocking presence inside with Chan Harris and freshman Cody Paulk. But they also turn it over a ton (23.1 per game), and if the Lady Monarchs don't get too carried away with turnovers themselves, their ability to cash in on GSU mistakes could be the difference. ODU 65, Georgia State 58

Virginia (10-7, 0-2 ACC) at Georgia Tech (14-4, 2-0 ACC), 4 p.m.
Just what the conference victory-starved Cavaliers need - a road trip to a team riding a single-season school-record 11-game winning streak. The Yellow Jackets really get after people defensively so the Cavaliers must be decisive and strong with the ball. This would be a great game for China Crosby to break out. Also, not sure what's happened, but forward and team captain Chelsea Shine, the team's second-leading scorer (10.6 ppg) has played just 10 minutes in each of the Cavaliers' last two games. Georgia Tech 62, Virginia 55

Virginia Tech (9-7, 0-2 ACC) at Wake Forest (9-8, 0-1 ACC), 7 p.m.
Tech has shown flashes of brilliance this season, but if they are to make themselves any sort of factor in the ACC standings they really need a road victory here. The Hokies had good looks at two victories over Wake last year but lost late second-half leads and the games both times. Tech has been led of late by Shanel Harrison, who has established a new career-high scoring mark (26 points) twice in her last six games and is averaging 15.1 ppg over her last seven. Virginia Tech 58, Wake Forest 54

Drexel (10-4, 2-1 CAA) at James Madison (9-6, 2-1), 6 p.m.
The Dragons have been ravaged by injuries of late, including an ACL tear that has sidelined point guard Marisa Crane. But Drexel does such a good job of plugging people in and still running their stuff the Dragons still shouldn't be counted out. The Dukes have injury problems of their own - senior center Lauren Jimenez, the Dukes' second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, sat out Sunday's game at ODU with concussion-like symptoms and, according to JMU's release, is sidelined indefinitely. As we learned Sunday - and in the season opener against Hampton, for that matter - JMU is a different team without Jimenez. JMU 61, Drexel 59

Virginia Commonwealth (8-5, 3-0 CAA) at Towson (5-8, 0-3 CAA), 7 p.m.
The Rams share the CAA lead with ODU and have won four straight, but to be fair, their schedule during this stretch - at Radford, at William and Mary and home games against UNC Wilmington and George Mason - pretty much demanded they get off to a fast start if they planned on being any sort of factor in the CAA race. Even though it's on the road, they have a great opportunity for a win tonight against the rebuilding Tigers, and against Sunday when they host Northeastern, before the schedule toughens considerably (at Old Dominion, at James Madison). VCU 67, Towson 47

William and Mary (1-12, 0-3 CAA) at Delaware (9-5, 2-1 CAA, 7 p.m.
We assumed the Blue Hens would fall off a cliff once Elena Delle Donne got hurt. Shows what happens when you assume - led by sophomore guard Lauren Carra (averaging 21.6 ppg in the 3 CAA games) the Blue Hens have been extremely competitive without their star. Obviously the Tribe are desperate for a win. But even without Delle Donne to deal with, we don't think they'll get it here. Delaware 74, William and Mary 68

UNC Wilmington (10-4, 2-1 CAA) at George Mason (7-7, 1-2), 7 p.m.
The Patriots followed five convincing victories at home with a pair of road losses at Old Dominion (competitive) and VCU (not quite as competitive). The Patriot Center has brought out the best in Mason this season, and UNCW appears to be the best team they will have played there this season, we're going with the home team until the Patriots prove otherwise. George Mason 67, UNCW 64 

No comments:

Post a Comment