National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 10, 1997

Division I

Can Huskies go undefeated again?

Event: 1997 Division I Women's Basketball Championship.

Overview: Connecticut hopes to repeat its feat from two years ago by sweeping through the season undefeated. Through late February, the Huskies were 26-0 and ranked first in the national polls. The closest an opponent got to knocking off the Huskies was a nine-point loss by UC Santa Barbara. Senior center Kara Wolters leads the Huskies with 17.2 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. Nykesha Sales chips in 16.6 points and 5.2 rebounds a contest. The junior forward also has amassed more than 100 steals in 26 games. As a team, Connecticut averages 84.6 points per game ... Old Dominion's only blemish in 27 games was a 65-62 loss to North Carolina State. The Lady Monarchs defeated Stanford when it was No. 1 early in the season. Coach Wendy Larry's squad has five players averaging double figures. Senior forward Clarisse Machanguana leads the team with just over 18.0 points per game. Junior forward Nyree Roberts adds 16.6 points a game. The Lady Monarchs outscore opponents by more than 32 points per contest ... Stanford's Kate Starbird became the Cardinal all-time leading scorer in late February. Coach Tara VanDerveer's team waltzed through Pacific-10 Conference competition and through 28 games was victorious in all but its 17-point loss to Old Dominion.

Field: The 64-team field includes 30 conferences with automatic qualification and 34 teams selected at large.

Dates and sites: First- and second-round games will be played at on-campus sites March 14 and 16 or 15 and 17. Regional tournaments will be March 22 and 24 at South Carolina (East), Purdue (Mideast), Iowa (Midwest) and Montana (West). The Women's Final Four will be March 28 and 30 at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.

Media coverage: ESPN, Inc., has purchased the rights to televise approximately 25 games of the championship, including the regional semifinals and finals and the Women's Final Four. Audio "cybercasting" of selected tournament games is accessible through the Women's Final Four World Wide Web site at www.finalfour.net.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1259 for the bracket/schedule, 5062 for semifinal box scores and 5063 for championship-game results. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Scores from first- and second-round competition will appear in the March 24 issue of The NCAA News. Regional results will be published March 31. Results from the Women's Final Four will be in the April 7 issue of the News.