Nov. 10, 2003
NORFOLK, VA - The Old Dominion women's basketball team has its final warm-up before the first official game at the WBCA Classic as they take on Team Concept, featuring former Lady Monarch Sharron Francis, on Tuesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
Team Concept's starting line-up includes Laura Consalves, Beth Record, Kate Starbird, Jenny Mowe, and Stacy Clinesmith. Many Lady Monarch fans may remember Starbird from Old Dominion's championship run in 1997. Starbird, a '97 graduate of Stanford, was a member of the Cardinal squad that was defeated by Old Dominion in overtime, 83-82, in the national semifinal. Starbird was the game's leading scorer with 26. She was later a third round pick in the WNBA draft in 1999 and had stints with Utah and Seattle.
Other WNBA notables on Concept's squad is Clinesmith, a 2000 second round pick by Sacramento. Clinesmith, a UC-Santa Barbara graduate, also enjoyed a stint with the Detroit Shock. Jenny Mowe, class of 2001 graduate from Oregon, played with both the Portland Fire and Los Angles Sparks.
The most notable member of the squad is former Lady Monarch, Sharron Francis, a 2002 ODU graduate and 2002 WNBA draftee. Francis' names can still be found in the Old Dominion record books, earning CAA All-Defensive honors in 2001 and 2002 and a 2000 CAA All-Tournament nod. She ranks fourth in career assists with 488 dishes and finished her career ranked 20th on the all-time scoring leaders chart with 1,085 career points. Francis finished her career averaging 8.6 points and 3.9 assists per game.
Team Concept has defeated their last two Division I teams in exhibition play. They downed the BIG EAST's Syracuse, 60-44, and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) member Siena, 77-54. Team Concept will play St. John's on Monday night before traveling to Norfolk.
The Lady Monarchs have played in two exhibition outings thus far in 2003-04. Along with the Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage, Old Dominion defeated WBC Ilirija, 107-44, last Tuesday night. The WBC Ilirija squad was comprised of several members of the national team from Slovenia.
Senior Preseason First Team All-CAA member Monique Coker (Bronx, NY) has averaged 33.5 points in both her exhibition showings to date. Sophomore Lawona Davis (Port St. Lucie, FL) and senior Max Nhassengo (Maputo, Mozambique) have also been netting double figures for Old Dominion in the preseason. Nhassengo has averaged 21.0 while Davis is netting an average of 17.0 in preseason play.
Old Dominion opens the season later this week at WBCA Preseason Classic in Boulder, Colorado. The Lady Monarchs, who take on the second toughest non-conference schedule in the country, will face Colorado in the opening round followed by either Notre Dame or Auburn in the following bracket. Both Colorado and Notre Dame reached the Sweet 16 of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, while Auburn captured the 2003 WNIT Title.
Tip-off for Tuesday's exhibition game is at 7:00 p.m. with tickets still available. Drop by the Ted Constant Convocation Center box office or call 757-683-4444 for more information.