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Sports

The Show Place Arena Set for March Madness

Women's CAA tournament begins Thursday in Upper Marlboro with some of the top scorers in the country, plus several local products.

James Madison senior guard Dawn Evans, second in the nation at 23.6 points per game as of Sunday, was born in Germany, grew up in Tennessee and spent part of her youth as a child actor in California.

But when her JMU team, which has a first-round bye Thursday as the regular-season champ, plays at noon Friday at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro in the Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball championship, she should have relatives in the crowd.

Her father has family in the Washington, D.C., region and Evans said she expects to have some friendly faces in the crowd at the CAA tournament. The 12-team event begins Thursday with four games, and JMU will play one of four games on Friday. The two semifinals are Saturday (noon and 2:30 p.m.) and the title game is Sunday at 1 p.m. (live on Comcast SportsNet), with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.

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"People can expect some great basketball in Upper Marlboro," said Evans, who was featured in USA Today in January for her struggles of playing with a kidney disease. "I think we will have some really good basketball. You have to bring your best game."

This will be the first time since 1998 that the CAA women's tourney will not be held at an on-campus site. Last year Evans helped JMU, playing on its homecourt in Virginia, win the CAA tourney title over Old Dominion. "The last two years we did play at JMU. There is no place like home," Evans said. The CAA offices are in Richmond.

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The first game of the tourney begins at noon, Thursday with No. 8 seed George Mason facing No. 9 Georgia State. The Patriots of George Mason feature Prince George's County products Taleia Moton (Fort Washington) and Cierra Strickland (Forestville).

Moton, from Suitland High, is a transfer from Radford who has been one of the top players this season for Mason and averages a team-high 11.9 points per game. Strickland is a freshman who played at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville.

Other Thursday games includes No. 5 seed Hofstra against No. 12 William and Mary in the second afternoon contest. In the evening session No. 7 Delaware meets No. 10 Northeastern and No. 6 Drexel goes against No. 11 Towson.

The William and Mary roster includes Katherine DeHenzel, who is from Bowie and played at St. John's College High. She had 18 points in the regular-season finale for the Tribe.

JMU will play at noon Friday against the winner of Mason and Georgia State. In the second game No. 4 seed VCU will face either Hofstra or William and Mary. The VCU roster includes freshman Robyn Parks of Camp Springs. VCU also features junior forward Courtney Hurt, who is third in the nation at 23.4 points per contest. Kevi Luper of Oral Roberts was first at 24.2.

Other Friday games include No. 2 ODU against Delaware or Northeastern at 5 p.m. and No. 3 seed UNC-Wilmington against either Drexel or Towson in the last game of the day.

So why the change to The Show Place Arena, which hosted the Atlantic 10 Conference women's tourney in 2010?

"I think the coaches wanted to have a competitive, level field," said Tina Martin, the veteran head coach at Delaware. "When you have it on your own court that can give you an adrenaline advantage. The coaches as a whole felt we had to level the playing field."

Delaware hosted the CAA tourney for two years before it moved to JMU for the 2009 and 2010 events. Attendance was strong at JMU, as the Dukes are annually one of the top teams in the league. Towson and George Mason, which has struggled the past few years on the court, are the two closest CAA schools to Upper Marlboro.

"You need your fans to follow you. That is the risk we are taking" playing away from a campus, Martin said.

Kenny Brooks, the JMU ninth-year head coach, said of the move: "It is something we have talked about since I got in the league. The tourney was at ODU, George Mason, Delaware and then JMU. It has been that unfair advantage for one team that is at home. We hope we can generate some local interest. The kids deserve it."

Two of the biggest stars in the CAA are Evans and Delaware's Elena Delle Donne, who was the rookie and player of the year in the league last season. She gained national attention after she transferred from powerhouse Connecticut to her home state of Delaware, where she first played volleyball for the Blue Hens while taking a break from college hoops.

She is averaging 25.0 points per contest but has not played in enough games, due to injury, to qualify among the CAA or national leaders.

The last time the CAA women's tourney was held off campus was at the Richmond Coliseum, which has hosted the CAA men's tourney for several years.

"It is something that has been discussed," Towson coach Joe Mathews, who grew up in Virginia, said of the move. "We feel anyone can win this thing. There may be some sacrifices. The first concern is how well it will be attended. It is what the coaches wanted."

Mathews noted that ODU, JMU and Delaware are among the league leaders in attendance and those schools are within a few hours of Upper Marlboro.

Last year, the Atlantic 10 drew more than 6,738 fans to the tourney for six sessions and 11 games. This year the Atlantic 10 tourney was held in Lowell, Mass. The Show Place Arena has hosted the Patriot League men and women's tournaments in the past.

The CAA men's hoop tourney was held last weekend in Richmond, the annual site. The first four games of the tourney on Friday were decided by six points or less, the first time that had happened since 1998.

Isaiah Tate, who grew up in the Largo High district, played for George Mason as a senior. The former DeMatha High grad made a big basket in the first half against Georgia State on Saturday.

He then made a dunk with 4:00 left left in the first half to cut the State lead to 27-23 and Mason took the lead a few minutes later.

Tate made a 3-point shot midway through the second half to give his team a 47-36 lead en route to the win. He ended up with eight points, four rebounds and three steals in 26 minutes off the bench in a 68-45 victory. Tate gave credit to teammate Andre Cornelius, who hit several key shots in the first half.

"They were definitely big shots," Tate said. "We needed some offense from somebody."

Tate has been a key sixth man this season for the Patriots, who appear headed to the NCAA tournament. "He has really been practicing well the past few days," Mason head coach Jim Larranaga said after Saturday's win. "We wanted to get him in early" against Georgia State.

Tate said he has known Mason teammate Bryon Allen, a freshman from Upper Marlboro, since they were young. Allen had one point and one rebound in three minutes against Georgia State.

Mason played on Sunday in the semifinals and lost to No. 4 seed VCU, 79-63. But the Patriots, who had won 16 games in a row, are expected to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney when the pairings are announced on Sunday.

Tate had six points and six rebounds off the bench against VCU. Allen had two points and two rebounds in three minutes.

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