The most fiercely combative player in Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball history, VCU’s lone WNBA first-round draft choice and the player who led the University of Richmond to its first NCAA tournament appearance have one thing in common today. All have been certified sterling by the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU standouts Kristine Austgulen and Quanitra Hollingsworth and Spiders icon Pam Bryant Jordan were among 25 players named yesterday by the CAA to its 25th anniversary women’s basketball team.

Quanitra Hollingsworth believed she was bound for home in Chesapeake when she steered her automobile onto I-64 eastbound shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday. In fact, her destination was Minneapolis.

Virginia Commonwealth University post player Quanitra Hollingsworth was chosen by the Minnesota Lynx in first round of this afternoon’s WNBA draft. Hollingsworth, a 6-5 senior from Chesapeake, was the ninth player selected and the second player taken by the Lynx in the first round. Minnesota took Connecticut point guard Renee Montgomery with the fourth overall pick.

Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball coach Beth Cunningham believes Quanitra Hollingsworth, the Rams’ all-CAA post player, has what it takes to compete with the big girls. Moreover, she believes the big girls share that opinion.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Everyone in the VCU dressing room agreed: The Rams’ first appearance in the NCAA tournament, while disappointing, was a priceless learning experience. VCU’s players said the atmosphere in which yesterday’s 57-51 loss to Rutgers occurred was nearly as formidable an opponent as the Scarlet Knights themselves. The contest was played in Rutgers’ home arena before a fervent crowd of nearly 4,000.

If experience is indeed the best teacher, today’s NCAA women’s tournament game between Virginia Commonwealth University and Rutgers will match third-graders against doctoral candidates. VCU is appearing in the NCAA playoffs for the first time in the program’s 34-year history.

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.

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.

Kenny Brooks understands not only the X’s and O’s of basketball but also those of chess. Specifically, he understands that sometimes you must sacrifice a few pawns to protect your queen. Brooks held gimpy point guard Dawn Evans, one of the nation’s most prolific scorers, out of yesterday’s showdown with CAA rival Virginia Commonwealth University. The result was entirely predictable. VCU, wielding its defense like a scimitar, knocked the Dukes out of a three-way tie for first place with a 61-43 victory.

The Spiders knew what was coming: a floorburns-and-bruises kind of game that no one—not even the winner—enjoys. “It was a long game—I mean, a really long game,“ said University of Richmond point guard Brittani Shells in the glad-it’s-over-with aftermath of last night’s 56-48 homecourt victory over crosstown rival Virginia Commonwealth University. “It was rough and physical and after a while I started thinking, ‘Oh, man. Is this thing ever going to end?‘“