New Era For Delta Dawns

Unfortunately for would-be Dunkle raters, the refereeing was extremely tight. The game began with three whistles in the first minute, and by halftime each team had two players in foul trouble. One of them was Dunkle. After scoring 14 points in the first period she spent most of the rest of the game on the bench with four fouls and a towel to mop up her tears of frustration.

"The official wouldn't let us play," said Immaculata Coach Cathy Rush after the Macs had won 63-54. "Everybody in the building would have liked to see Dunkle play 40 minutes—except maybe me. When it came right down to it, it was whose bench was better. We had five freshmen on the floor at one time, and we weren't doing that bad."

Fullerton , a low-tuition state school with 18,600 students located in one of Los Angeles ' unending suburbs, is a typical example of the booming interest in women's basketball. Until last year the basketball players sold candy and T shirts and washed cars to raise money because the school's contribution to their program was too small to cover expenses. Fullerton 's teams have qualified for the nationals five of the last six years, and the quality of their performances has kept pace with the improvement in women's play. And the team's success has begun to draw crowds. Whenever archrival UCLA and its star Ann Meyers travel to Fullerton , the games are SRO. This year the school picked up a greater portion of the team's expenses, and next season the women probably will be allowed to charge admission to their games for the first time.

Coach Billie Jean Moore, who played several seasons of AAU softball with the Topeka Boosters and earned her master's in Phys. Ed. at Southern Illinois , says, "We haven't done any recruiting so far. In the past we haven't had to. But the time has come now that if you don't recruit, you'd better go look for a different game to play. We were allowed to give our players a waiver of tuition this year, but our tuition is only $95 a semester, so it didn't amount to much. If the school wants us to continue at this level, it's going to have to contribute more."

UCLA so far has put up $180,000 for women's athletics, and one beneficiary has been the basketball team, now in its second season and conspicuous by its absence from the AIAW tournament. UCLA and Fullerton ended their regular seasons tied 9-1 in the Southern California Women's Intercollegiate Conference, but because UCLA played an ineligible graduate student last season, it has been placed on probation for two years by the western region of the AIAW. That barred the Bruins from the regional tournament to determine who would represent the West in the nationals. UCLA has appealed to the AIAW and the courts, but has been turned down. Some members of the national group feel the penalty is too severe; when the probation is reviewed again, there is a chance it will be rescinded or reduced.

Still, Meyers was in Harrisonburg last week, dividing her time between the tournament and the TV set in her motel room, where she watched brother Dave and the other members of the Bruin men's team in the NCAA regionals. She and nine other players had been elected by the coaches to a new Kodak All-America team, and she was en route to Washington, D.C. to receive her award.

Fortunately, the coaches who voted for Meyers also chose Harris of Delta State . If they had not, the spectators in Godwin Hall surely would have demanded a recount. While Immaculata had been working its way through the top of the draw, Delta State had progressed through a 77-75 overtime defeat of Federal City of Washington, D.C. and an 88-66 runaway over Tennessee Tech. Harris scored 42 points in that game, redeeming herself for having fouled out with almost 10 minutes left against Federal City.

"I always get in foul trouble," she said, her sad gaze fastened on the toes of her green-and-white high tops. She had been so downcast the morning after the Federal City game that she would not come out of her motel room for breakfast. Her teammates, who look out for her psyche, took her some doughnuts.

In the semis Harris and her caterers met Southern Connecticut , a good team with a run-and-shoot offense designed to overcome its lack of a 6-footer. Southern pressed continuously, and the pace of the game was strenuous. Tiny Brock scored 12 points, making her third high scorer for Delta behind Harris with 32 and Ward with 14, but two minutes before the end of the game she collapsed, exhausted and vomiting, on the sideline. When Ward was asked whether Southern Connecticut 's was the best press Delta State ever faced, she replied, "It's the only press we've ever faced." The game was the best of the tournament, the Ladies winning 71-68.

A standing-room-only crowd of 5,000 turned out for the final between the Macs and Delta. About a quarter of the fans were Immaculata rooters and the rest were united by a singular desire—to see the Macs get it in the head. Immaculata, like the Yankees and the Celtics, have learned quickly how to live unloved. Wave after wave of affection broke over big, lovable Harris and courageous little Brock and elegant, redheaded Wanda Hairston, who pranced up and down like a show horse, and feisty, unflappable Cornelia Ward. They were a whole new set of heroes—or, rather, heroines.