This week’s Division I conference baseball tournaments have a limited Virginia flavor. Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Richmond, William and Mary and James Madison all failed to qualify for their respective league tournaments. The University of Virginia is the sixth seed in the eight-team ACC tournament. George Mason and Old Dominion made the six-team Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Liberty, Radford and VMI are competing in the eight-team Big South Conference tournament.

* tested positive for banned substance in 2008, lost final season of NCAA eligibility

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.

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.

Scott Rodgers Junior Hairston   When: 8:30 p.m. Radio: WXGI (950); Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 126) Projected starting lineups:  Head to head : Drexel swept the series, 60-53 at Towson and 78-65 at home.
  Notable: Tramayne Hawthorne, a 6-0 senior guard, averaged 8.5 points off the bench for Drexel. The Dragons come into the tournament on a two-game losing streak. They ripped off a seven-game winning streak, all conference games, in January. Towson has used 16 starting lineups this season. The Tigers have averaged 63 points in their victories. They are 1-1 in Friday games this season. Josh Thornton, a 6-2 junior, averages 11.2 points off the bench for the Tigers. Jarrell Smith, a 6-7 sophomore, brings 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds off the bench. Tigers coach Pat Kennedy is in his 29th season as a head coach. He has directed the programs at Iona, Florida State, DePaul and Montana. Kennedy is 472-406 lifetime, but hasn’t had a winning season since 1999-2000 at DePaul. When Drexel won at Towson, it marked the 500th loss for the Tigers in the Towson Center and the 400th loss of Kennedy’s career.

HARRISONBURG—Eric Maynor closed in on VCU’s all-time scoring record, and the Rams closed in on their third consecutive Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title Wednesday night. Maynor scored 18 points as VCU beat James Madison 71-52. The 6-3 senior guard needs two points to pass Kendrick Warren’s mark of 1,858 points. Maynor will have a chance to break the record Saturday when the Rams (13-4, 20-9) play their final regular-season game against Georgia State at the Siegel Center.

NORFOLK—Frank Hassell and Ben Finney scored 13 points each and Old Dominion held off William & Mary 64-63 tonight. The Monarchs (19-9, 11-6 Colonial Athletic Association) led 49-40 with 10:02 left, but the Tribe rallied to tie the game at 53. William & Mary pulled ahead 61-58 with 1:38 remaining, but Darius James hit a 3-pointer to tie the game for the 12th time.

HARRISONBURG—Virginia Commonwealth University leads James Madison 28-26 at halftime of their basketball game at JMU. Larry Sanders has eight points and Eric Maynor six for VCU. The Rams are shooting only 40.6 percent (13 of 32). Juwann James has 12 points for JMU. The Dukes are shooting just 34.5 percent (10 of 29).—Tim Pearrell

SCOREBOARD PEEKING commences in earnest this week around the Colonial Athletic Association. Seven teams are jammed within two games of first place with three conference games to play. The top four earn first-round byes in the CAA tournament. “It makes for a very, very interesting and complicated ending,“ George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. “The number of potential ties has to be ridiculous.“

BOSTON—Scott Rodgers scored 17 points, including 15 in the second half, to lead Drexel to a 62-58 come-from-behind win over Northeastern tonight. The Dragons (13-10, 9-5 Colonial Athletic Association) went on two big second-half runs. After trailing 31-18 with 17:20 remaining, Drexel scored 15 straight over the next five minutes to take a two-point lead. With the game tied at 42 with just over four minutes left, the Dragons went on a 17-6 run to take a 59-48 lead and put the game away.

TOWSON, Md.—Virginia Commonwealth University had Eric Maynor and an interior job, and that was enough to overcome some late-game sloppiness as the Rams held on to beat Towson 78-71 in a Colonial Athletic Association game tonight. VCU’s Rams (5-1 CAA, 12-5) built a 14-point lead with 3:21 left, then sweated out the final few minutes as the margin dissolved with missed foul shots and turnovers.

Colonial Athletic Association athletic directors will convene in Washington next week and discuss the league’s coming football expansion. In general, the agenda is this question: Can a 14-team football conference work?

His first “go-to guy” is gone, so James Madison coach Matt Brady says the Dukes are searching for another. Senior forward Juwann James may be putting in an application. James has scored 24 points in each of JMU’s past two games. His dunk with 44 seconds left put the Dukes ahead of Drexel in Monday’s 66-60 victory. The Dukes lost all-conference guard Abdulai Jalloh (15.5 points per game last year) for the season with a partly torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The senior’s career likely is finished.