Old Dominion looks to recapture its old domination

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Before Connecticut reigned supreme in women’s basketball, there was Old Dominion.

The Norfolk, Va., based school established itself three decades ago as one of the early powerhouses in the sport, with the Monarchs reaching three NCAA Final Fours and claiming three national championships in two different tournaments.

Now Old Dominion has made its deepest tournament run in years, and coach Wendy Larry’s team faces a familiar obstacle in the Greensboro Regional semifinals: top-seeded UConn (34-1), which long ago surpassed the No. 5-seeded Monarchs on its way to becoming one of the pre-eminent powers in the women’s game.

“If Old Dominion wins (today’s) game, it’s the biggest upset in the history of the tournament, because we’re UConn and we’re not supposed to lose,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma wryly said Saturday. “But I don’t think they look at it that way.”

They sure don’t. Instead, Larry’s program is looking to recapture the high level of success that carried the Monarchs to the 1985 NCAA tournament championship, and captured consecutive AAIW crowns in 1979 and ‘80.

George Washington vs. Rutgers

If the Scarlet Knights claim their second win this season against George Washington, what most likely awaits them is a third meeting with top-seeded Connecticut. Rutgers gave the Huskies their only loss of the season Feb. 5.

Postseason rematches may be unavoidable for Rutgers, which has played 10 of the 15 other teams that reached the regional semifinals and went 7-5 against them.

“The good part of that is, there are very few teams that we will not have some sense of who they are and how they played,” said Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer. “I think that’s good scheduling on our part.”

Sarah-Jo Lawrence’s putback at the buzzer sealed GW’s second-round upset of third-seeded California and gave the Colonials the first consecutive regional semifinal appearances in school history.