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Virginia opened the John Paul Jones with an impressive victory over ODU. |
Debbie Ryan said the pre-game ceremonies felt like being in a movie. The Virginia women’s basketball team made sure the first official game in the John Paul Jones Arena followed a Hollywood-like script. The Hoos never trailed against Old Dominion and needed less than 5 minutes to pull out to a 10-point lead that never fell into single digits again. UVa eventually cruised to a 92-72 victory.
“From the minute that we came through the smoke, it was incredible. I knew how CavMan was going to come out, but when I saw his feet, I didn’t know how I’d feel. When they came to get me to get the ball, goosebumps were just all over me. I really
had a hard time with the atmosphere. It was just so incredible,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “I mean, you feel like you’re in Universal Studios. When you’re down on the floor and you hear that music and you hear the videoboard and the band and everything and you just feel like you’re in a movie. You feel like this is like Disney World, and you’re on the wildest ride. It was just crazy.”
Ryan was also happy to open the building, the significance and honor of which was not lost on UVa’s long-time coach.
“There was a lot of significance to this game, because to open up the arena, to be the first team to play in here was very, very significant. Because in 1819, this was an all-male school, and I was just really proud that we got to be on the floor first, and I wanted our team to show how proud we were of that, to represent all the women that had come before them,” Ryan said. “The women that started here 30-some years ago, and I just thought that we wanted to make sure that when they put the plaque up on the lobby of JPJA. We didn’t want it to talk about a loss, we wanted it to talk about a win, because it’s going to be there for a lifetime. That’s sort of the way we approached it. But the kids were great today. I knew they were going to play well.”
Ryan received a surprise at halftime that also left her emotional. The school named the JPJ women’s locker room after the coach, who is in her 30th year at the helm of the program. Ryan had no idea about the halftime ceremony until she was courtside, but the tears in her eyes and in her voice told just how much she appreciated the moment.
“It reflects a lot to be here for 30 years. She has poured her heart and soul into this program,” Siedah Williams said. “She deserves it. It’s a great honor on her behalf.”
As for the basketball part of the celebration, Williams and Lyndra Littles played the starring roles in this season-opening blockbuster. Williams poured in 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting as she scored the first points in the new JPJ – in fact she scored Virginia’s first 11 points. Ryan joked that she thought Williams might score 100 she started so fast. Williams said she was just ready to play. It showed as she opened by sinking three lay-ups, a jumper, and 3 (of 4) free throws.
“I was ready. That whole presentation we had just put some extra excitement in me so I was ready to come out and play. I came out on fire,” Williams said. “We just didn’t let ourselves get sucked up in all the hype and came out ready to play.”
That fast start set the tone for what became the theme of the day. Old Dominion simply didn’t have an answer for Williams or Littles, who followed up Williams’ fast start with one of her best performances in the orange and blue. Littles scored 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in just 22 minutes.
“I think Williams and Littles are tremendous post complements to each other. I think really that you pay so much attention sometimes to Littles that Williams has her way,” Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said.
Indeed, the Cavalier duo caused a lot of problems for ODU’s interior line, who struggled with foul trouble and the game’s fast pace. The latter helped the Hoos eventually wear down the Monarchs with a wave of players and a constant push-the-tempo mentality. That run-the-floor approach resulted in the following statistics: 18 assists and 52.6% shooting. That helped four players score in double figures – Williams, Littles, Denesha Kenion, and Monica Wright.
All in all, that quartet was part of a balanced and dominant showing by the Cavs. Certainly, Larry was impressed with the Cavaliers, who are off to a 2-0 start for the 2006-07 season. She praised Sharnee Zoll and the Hoos.
“[Zoll is] certainly one of the finest point guards, I think, that Virginia has had since the Dawn Staley ages. She really puts things together for this Virginia team and puts the ball in the right place for these people to be successful with their strengths. Zoll, I think, is really the key and she’s what makes them tick,” Larry said. “Obviously, Williams is very gifted, Littles is very gifted. There’s a number of players out there. I think Wright is going to be really, really special. [Takisha] Granberry is no slouch. There are an awful lot of players that Virginia has that are certainly some of the elite players in our country.”
Larry also spoke highly of the Hoos’ new facility. The John Paul Jones Arena opened with the expected flair of a state-of-the-art building. The atmosphere certainly elevated the surroundings to “big time” program status.
“What a tremendous facility this is. I know that the University of Virginia and Debbie Ryan and the coaches here have been very anxious to open this facility. It’s gorgeous,” Larry said. “Certainly, there’s a lot of tradition in the old facility, very much like at Old Dominion when we left the field house and went to the Ted Constant Center. I know there will be a lot of great moments here in the John Paul Jones Arena.”
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