Story Links
March 16, 2000
GAME: No. 13 Pepperdine (21-9) vs. No. 4 Virginia (23-8), Mideast Regional,First Round.
TIME: Friday, 8:30 p.m. EST.
SITE: University Hall, Charlottesville, Va.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia hopes to make Pepperdine’s NCAA tournament debut a short one whenthe two teams meet Friday in the first round.
The fourth-seeded Cavaliers are making their 17th consecutive appearance inthe field of 64. They gained home-court advantage for the first two rounds onthe strength of winning the ACC regular-season title, which carried more weightthan losing to North Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
“We are very pleased with the seed and with the fact that we get to stayhome,” said Debbie Ryan, the ACC coach of the year. “That was a great thingfor us and were very happy to see it. We are very proud of the season we havehad.”
The Cavaliers have been led by a freshman this season. Six-foot-3 forwardSchuye LaRue, who averaged a team-high 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds, earnedfreshman of the year honors.
Virginia lost to Penn State in the opening round last year, ending a 12-yearstreak of winning first-round games. The Cavaliers have not been to the FinalFour since losing to Stanford in 1992.
Pepperdine is the lowest seed among the at-large teams in the NCAAtournament. The Waves received their inaugural bid to the field of 64 despitelosing to San Diego in the championship game of the West Coast Conferencetournament.
“This is a great accomplishment for these players and a major breakthroughfor the Pepperdine program,” Waves coach Mark Trakh said. “We are lookingforward to playing a tough Virginia team on its home court and anticipate acompetitive game.”
The loss to San Diego snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Waves, whohave won 19 of their last 23 games after a 2-5 start. Pepperdine’s sixnon-conference losses came against teams with a combined winning percentage ofmore than 70 percent, including top-seeded Connecticut, UCLA and MississippiState.
The winner will play No. 5 Boston College or No. 12 Nebraska in the secondround Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Pepperdine – F Dee Braxton (10.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg), F NadjaMorgan (9.5 ppg, 6.6 rpg), C Anna Lembke (6.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G Rasheeda Clark(15.5 ppg, 3.5 apg), G Damaris Hinojosa (14.0 ppg, 2.8 apg). Virginia – FSvetlana Volnaya (13.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg), F Lisa Hosac (8.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg), C SchuyeLaRue (14.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg), G Renee Robinson (9.0 ppg, 5.0 apg), G TelishaQuarles (12.2 ppg, 2.7 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Pepperdine – At-large bid, West Coast Conference.Virginia – At-large bid, Atlantic Coast Conference.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Pepperdine – 0-0. Virginia – 27-16, 16 years.