For More Information Contact: Scott Musa 540.665.5417

Sixth Seeded Men Advance with 75-66 Victory over NC Wesleyan

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (February 22, 2001) - It took them nearly 10 hours to get there, but it was all worth it in the end. The SU men's basketball team, seeded sixth of seven teams at the 38^th Annual Dixie Conference Men's Basketball tournament, upset No. 3 seed NC Wesleyan 75-66 Thursday evening to advance to the 6:00 semi-final contest on Friday against No. 2 seed Averett College. Averett advanced to its second straight semi-final appearance with a 115-101 win over No. 7 seed Ferrum College.

The Hornets left Winchester at 11:00 Thursday morning to make the 3.5 hour ride to Christopher Newport University. The team became stranded on I-95 during the yesterday's snowstorm and did not reach CNU until just before 9:00 p.m. Their scheduled 6:00 game was pushed back to 9:30, with the 8:00 game between Greensboro and Methodist starting 30 minutes early in an attempt to get the evening over as quickly as possible.

With less than a half hour to warm-up, Shenandoah (9-15) reached its first semi-final since the 1997 tournament on the strength of 27 points and 16 rebounds from junior Ronald Merriwether (Frankfurt, Germany/Giessen American). Merriwether helped SU back from a 30-16 first half deficit with eight of the Hornets 15 points in a 15-0 run that gave Coach Rob Harris' club its first lead of the game at 31-30 with 5:16 to play in the first.

Down 38-33 at the break, the Hornets shot a sizzling 13 for 23 (56.5 percent) in the second half to secure the win over the Bishops (18-7).

In addition to Merriwether's 27 points, junior Craig Shelton (Charlottesville, Va./Charlottesville) and sophomore Michael Atkins (Winchester, Va./Sherando) both chipped in with 12.

A complete box score can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/mb/200001/022201.htm

The complete bracket:

No. 2 Averett 105, No. 7 Ferrum 101

No. 6 Shenandoah 75, No. 3 NC Wesleyan 66

No. 5 Greensboro 74, No. 4 Methodist 71

Semi-Finals

No. 2 Averett vs No. 6 Shenandoah 6:00

No. 1 CNU vs No. 5 Greensboro 8:00

Ferrum Women 68, SU 65

WINCHESTER, Va. - The Shenandoah University women's basketball team will be unable to defend its Dixie Conference Tournament championship, as SU fell 68-65 to 3^rd seeded Ferrum College in quarterfinal round action Thursday evening.

Shenandoah (9-16) took a 37-31 lead into the halftime lockerroom after shooting 51.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play. Sophomore Adina Trammel (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) had 12 of those 37 points while Wendy Legge (Stephens City, Va./Sherando) added 10.

The Hornets led for most of the second half, but allowed Ferrum (10-15) back into the contest as SU made just 7 of its 33 second half attempts (21.2 percent). The two teams traded the lead on five different occasions with the Lady Panthers finally taking the lead for good at 64-62 with 2:06 remaining.

Trammel finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds while Legge chipped in 15 points.

The loss concludes Shenandoah's season.

A full box score can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/wb/200001/0222013.htm

Complete Results:

No. 2 Methodist 92, No. 7 Averett 60

No. 5 NC Wesleyan 55, No. 4 Greensboro 42

No. 3 Ferrum 68, No. 6 Shenandoah 65

Friday's Pairings:

No. 1 CNU vs No. 5 NC Wesleyan 5:30

No. 2 Methodist vs No. 3 Ferrum 7:30

Shenandoah University offers 16 intercollegiate sports, eight for men and eight for women. For further information, please contact the Office of Athletic Communications at 540-665-5417 or visit our web site at http://www.su.edu/athletics. For Dixie Conference Information, please visit the Dixie Conference home page: http://www.dixieconference.com.

Shenandoah University is a comprehensive Level V private university with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students in five schools: School of Arts & Sciences, Harry F. Byrd Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah Conservatory, Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy and the School of Health Professions (Athletic Training, Nursing, Respiratory Care, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant). The University offers more than 60 programs of study at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels