Dragons too much for Dukes Marginean scores 26 as Drexel claims bid to NCAA tournament HARRISONBURG - Finally, at the end of a long and erratic afternoon, Gabriela Marginean located a comfort zone. Marginean, the Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball player of the year, scored 26 points, including 14 of 14 from the free throw line, to lift the Drexel Dragons to a 64-58 victory over James Madison in yesterday’s tournament title game on the Dukes’ home floor. Marginean buried 13 second-half free throws and shot 10 of 10 from the line in the final 1:36.

Evans, JMU reach final; VCU hopes for NCAA bid Now comes the hard part for Virginia Commonwealth University’s women’s basketball team. Now comes the wait. Dawn Evans, James Madison University’s irrepressible sophomore point guard, scored 23 points and handed out six assists yesterday to carry her Dukes to a 65-57 victory over VCU in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Drexel stops ODU’s streaks League-title run ends at 17; tourney win string is halted at 51 All good things must come to an end, even for Old Dominion’s dynastic women’s basketball program. Drexel forward Gabriela Marginean, the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year, scored 20 points and several ODU flaws became manifest in the second half as the top-seeded Dragons scorched the Lady Monarchs 62-41 in yesterday’s CAA semifinals at James Madison University. Drexel’s victory halted ODU’s NCAA-record streak of conference titles at 17. Halted, too, was Old Dominion’s 51-game winning streak in CAA tournament play.

Sophomore point guard Dawn Evans scored 23 points and wing guard Sarah Williams added 11 as James Madison’s women, playing on their home floor, toppled second-seeded VCU 65-57 in today’s CAA Tournament semifinals.

Top-seeded Drexel got 20 points from CAA player of the year Gabriela Marginean and pulled away to beat Old Dominion 62-41 in the semifinals of the CAA Women’s Tournament. It is the first loss for Larry’s team in 52 CAA tournament games since it joined the league in 1991-92.

Gabriela Marginean scored 20 points and teammate Jasmina Rosseel added 12 as Drexel severed Old Dominion’s streak of Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament dominance with a 62-41 victory in this afternoon’s semifinals at James Madison University.

Virginia Commonwealth University put its best foot forward and punted William and Mary out of the Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament. The second-seeded VCU Rams, chasing the first CAA championship and the first NCAA Tournament bid in program history, dashed to a 25-point halftime lead and coasted thereafter while pounding the Tribe 72-52 in yesterday’s tournament quarterfinals at James Madison University. In this afternoon’s 2:30 semifinal, VCU (26-5) will face JMU, a 51-49 quarterfinal winner over Northeastern. VCU swept its two games with JMU during the regular season. Drexel will challenge Old Dominion at 1 in the other semifinal.

HARRISONBURG—Post player Quanitra Hollingsworth produced her 17th double-double of the season (20 points, 11 rebounds) and guard La’Tavia Rorie added 16 points and eight rebounds as Virginia Commonwealth University whipped William and Mary 72-52 in tonight’s Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament quarterfinal game at James Madison University.

HARRISONBURG - Taysha Pye hit a jumper with 8 seconds remaining and William and Mary held on for a 63-62 victory over Hofstra yesterday in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Pye led all scorers with 20 points, and Tiffany Benson registered 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Tribe (14-16), who will face Virginia Commonwealth today at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

Let’s begin by dispelling a myth: Quanitra Hollingsworth hasn’t been at Virginia Commonwealth University longer than the fountain in Monroe Park. It only seems that way. Hollingsworth, the Rams’ all-Colonial Athletic Association post player, arrived at VCU in 2004 as a 15-year-old high school prodigy. She will depart in May as a 20-year-old woman who has earned an undergraduate degree, made significant progress toward her master’s and - in her spare time - helped transform the school’s women’s basketball program from dreary to something resembling dynamic. She particularly is proud of the latter accomplishment.

A business-as-usual season produced an unusual reward for Virginia Commonwealth University post player Quanitra Hollingsworth: a berth on the all-Colonial Athletic Association first team. Hollingsworth, the Rams’ 6-5 senior from Chesapeake, was honored at last night’s pre-tournament awards banquet in Harrisonburg. She leads the 25-5 Rams in scoring (14.5 ppg), rebounding (9.4 rpg) and defenses disrupted.

Virginia Commonwealth University post player Quanitra Hollingsworth was named to the all-Colonial Athletic Association first team at tonight’s pre-CAA Tournament awards banquet in Harrisonburg. Hollingsworth, the Rams’ 6-5 senior from Chesapeake, will carry team-high averages of 14.5 points and 9.4 rebounds into Friday’s CAA Tournament quarterfinals.

Boise, Dayton, Greensboro, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Portland represent the eight sites where the first round of the NCAA tournament will be played next week. While Colonial Athletic Association champ Virginia Commonwealth is happy to go anywhere, one destination would have a homey feel. VCU coach Anthony Grant grew up in Miami and has family and friends there. He coached in Miami high schools before moving on to the college game.

As he stood next to Len Elmore of ESPN waiting to do a postgame interview last night, Larry Sanders leaned over to Virginia Commonwealth teammate Terrance Saintil and yelled above the crowd noise on the floor of the Coliseum. “I told you at the beginning of the year, we’re going dancing,“ he said to Saintil. Sanders did more than his share in helping the top-seeded Rams blow out No. 2 George Mason 71-50 in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game.

It took Eric Maynor a little while to snip the last few strands of the net last night. Finally, he cut the last one, took the net, hoisted it to the cheering crowd, and then draped it around his neck. This CAA tournament championship had special meaning for Maynor and his VCU teammates.