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Nov. 12, 2006

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia women’s basketball opened up its new home- the John Paul Jones Arena- in grand style on Sunday, beating longtime intra-state rival Old Dominion, 92-72, and adding a few surprises along the way.

CavMan personally delivered the game ball, repelling from the roof down to the court, during pregame festivities At halftime, UVa Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage made a special announcement before the fans and team alumnae. The women’s locker room has been dubbed the “Debbie Ryan Locker Room”, named for the Cavalier coach who is now in her 30th season at the school.

“I’m usually in the locker room yelling at my team,” a very emotional Ryan said immediately following the announcement. “I had no idea. This is just an incredible honor for me. I’m humbled.”

With the win, Virginia improved to 2-0, while the Lady Monarchs fell to 0-1.

UVa scored the first bucket in its new building, a layup by senior Siedah Williams (Cleveland, Ohio). Williams went on to score the `Hoos first 11 points of the stanza. Virginia jumped out to a 14-point lead, 24-10. UVa built its lead to 21 points, 36-15 with 6:38 to go in the half. The Cavaliers entered the locker room with a 14-point edge, 44-30, paced by Williams’ 15 points.

In the second half, Virginia maintained its double-digit lead, going ahead by as many as 21 points.

Sophomore Lyndra Littles (Washington, D.C.) led Virginia with a career-high 23 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season and seventh of her career. She went 13-of-14 from the line. Williams followed with 21 points. Junior Denesha Kenion (Oxon, Md.) came off the bench for a career-high 13 points, while freshman Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points. The frosh also added six boards, four assists, and three steals in her second start.

T.J. Jordan came off the bench to lead ODU with 21 points. Sherida Triggs followed with15 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Overall, Virginia out-rebounded Old Dominion, 43-42.

Virginia continues its three-game homestand on Friday, Nov. 17 with Marquette. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at JPJA.

QUOTES

Debbie Ryan, Virginia head coach
On preparing after playing Rhode Island Friday:
“I thought that the team today was really prepared well yesterday. We had a very quick turnaround. They prepared a little bit on Monday. They came in yesterday, and they were so good that I stopped practice early. I just stopped it, and we came in and played.”

On opening in John Paul Jones Arena:
“There was a lot of significance to this game, because to open up the arena, to be the first team to play in here was very, very significant. Because in 1819, this was an all-male school, and I was just really proud that we got to be on the floor first, and I wanted our team to show how proud we were of that, to represent all the women that had come before them. The women that started here 30-some years ago, and I just thought that we wanted to make sure that when they put the plaque up on the lobby of JPJA. We didn’t want it to talk about a loss, we wanted it to talk about a win, because it’s going to be there for a lifetime. That’s sort of the way we approached it. But the kids were great today. I knew they were going to play well.”

On Siedah Williams:
“Actually, I thought she was going to score 100 when she started. But she was really ready to play today. She gets knocked around in there a lot, but she handled the physicality of the game. She just really was keyed up. And she’s a senior. It was really important to her, and she knew how important it was to everyone here. I was really proud of her performance and her leadership throughout the game.”

“You couldn’t help but be ready to play today. You know, you had to be dead if you weren’t ready to play today.”

On the pressure of opening JPJA:
“The great thing about it, though, was that when we went to URI, there was a method to my madness. When we went down to open ODU’s arena, I felt like we had not a care in the world. We could just go out and play, and all the pressure was on them. I just wanted to get them away from here, because, to be honest with you, this week has been a real huge buildup. There was press around the whole time, there was television around the whole time, and we needed to get them out of here and needed to get them thinking about playing basketball. Taking them away helped a lot, and having that time away with them, just getting the season started someplace else.”

On the atmosphere:
“From the minute that we came through the smoke, it was incredible. I knew how CavMan was going to come out, but when I saw his feet, I didn’t know how I’d feel. When they came to get me to get the ball, goosebumps were just all over me. I really had a hard time with the atmosphere. It was just so incredible. I mean, you feel like you’re in Universal Studios. When you’re down on the floor and you hear that music and you hear the videoboard and the band and everything and you just feel like you’re in a movie. You feel like this is like Disney World, and you’re on the wildest ride. It was just crazy.”

On Lyndra Littles:
“Lyndra, as you could see, has turned into a completely different player than she was last year. This year she’s just turned into someone you can count on every minute of every game and she’s done a lot of things that, last year, she just wasn’t ready to do that every day. She’s turned into a leader, she’s turned into someone who understands her role, and Siedah [Williams] has helped her with that. Siedah has been a good role model and a good leader for her, and they play so well together. They’ve done a great job together.”

Siedah Williams
On readiness before the game:
“I was ready. That whole pre-game session we had gave me extra excitement. So. I was ready to just come out and play and I came out on fire.”

On no distractions from the opening ceremonies:
“None at all. We were prepared for it. We didn’t let ourselves get sucked into all the hype. We just came out ready to play.”

Did the Rhode Island game on Friday help today:
“Definitely. It really just us all get the jitters out. Whatever nervousness we had, we got it all out in that game. We came out and gave it all we had.”

Did you and Lyndra feel you had a quickness advantage down low:
“Since we both scored in the twenties, I think so.”

Did Lyndra look like a different player to you:
“She definitely has stepped her game up. She’s on a whole new level this year. She has a different mind set, and she knows that this is the year she can shine.”

On the difference between JPJA and U-Hall:
“Cooler and bigger. The atmosphere itself. It’s a great place to play in.”

On the women’s basketball team opening JPJA instead of the men’s team:
“It was a huge honor. Coach told us that in 1819 the University was for only males. We were able to open up the arena and get a win. I can’t say much more than that.”

On Coach Ryan getting the locker room named after her:
“It reflects a lot to be here for 30 years. She has poured her heart and soul into this program. She deserves it. It’s a great honor on her behalf.”

On the team’s quickness down the baseline:
“A lot people have a very quick first step, especially Monica. We’ve been working on it in practice.”

Monica Wright
On your first home game:
“It felt good playing with my teammates. The crowd here and the opening with CavMan coming down from the ceiling felt like this is the way it’s supposed to be. It felt welcoming. “

On the hype of today’s game:
“I really don’t pay attention to it all. I just try to focus on the game at hand. I try not to get distracted by it.”

On your motivation after your defensive foul:
“We just needed to keep the pressure on. We wanted to stretch the lead a little more. I was just trying to keep our intensity up the entire game.”

Denesha Kenion
On the depth of this year’s team:
“I think this year we have a more versatile team. You can put any line-up together and get a good performance out of them.”

On coming off the bench with Takisha Granberry:
“We just tried to get our defense on and get the energy up. We wanted to get the team pumped and not be so lazy. We had a lot of poor decisions.”

Wendy Larry, Old Dominion head coach
“You know what, I think our basketball team is coming through a transitional year of several people being injured last year that were going to be key for us. They’re really learning their role too.”

On Virginia’s post players:
“I think (Siedah) Williams and (Lyndra) Littles both are tremendous post compliments of each other. You pay so much attention sometimes to Littles that Williams has her way. Today, we didn’t really defend much of anything.”

On how her team played against Virginia:
“We were very un-poised, I would say, is the best way to put it. We didn’t play with much focus and much intensity, but our first game against a team that has veteran players like Virginia and certainly one of the finest point guards (Sharneé Zoll) that I think Virginia’s had probably since the Dawn Staley ages. She just really puts things together for this Virginia team and puts the ball in the right place for these people to be successful and with their strength. Zoll, I think, is really the key, and she is just what makes them tick. Obviously Williams is very gifted, Littles is very gifted, there’s a number of players out there. I think (Monica) Wright’s going to be really, really special, (Takisha) Granberry’s no slouch; there’s an awful that of players that Virginia has that are certainly some of the elite players in our country.”

Did the opening ceremonies have any effect on Old Dominion?
“No, we just took them out of the arena. We didn’t really talk about it. We just went out in the hallway and tried not to be apart of it. So, realizing what you do to open a facility, you don’t what to be the opponent and sit and watch it happen. Obviously, I think the ball came down through the ceiling, maybe with the Cavalier, I can’t remember how it worked, we had some idea some of those things were going to happen, so again to open a facility is a great honor, and I think Old Dominion and Virginia have been great friends for a long time. I have a great deal of respect for what coach Ryan has done here; we talk often when we go to Nike (convention) about being dinosaurs in the game. There aren’t too many of us left that have been at our respective institutions for 20 years or more.”

TJ Jordan
On shooting in a new, larger arena:
“It’s really not much different from The Ted (Constant Convocation Center). It’s exactly like The Ted.”

On her team’s performance:
“We made a lot of mistakes; we weren’t poised; our defense was awful. All we can do is build from this and go on to practice tomorrow and start from scratch and push each other in practice.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

			1	2	-	FinalOld Dominion (0-1)	30	42	-	72Virginia (2-0)		44	48 	-	92
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