COLLEGE BASKETBALL / POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : WOMEN’S EAST REGIONAL : Burges Play at Virginia Home for a Trip to Los Angeles Home

It used to be that to beat No. 1-ranked Virginia, you concentrated on Dawn Staley, the 1991 Naismith player of the year, and her talented backcourt mate, Tammi Reiss.

Now, the Cavaliers’ front court, 6-foot-5 juniors Heather and Heidi Burge of Palos Verdes Estates, pose a formidable threat as Vanderbilt Coach Jim Foster acknowledged Friday while his team prepared for today’s East Regional final on Virginia’s home court, University Hall.

The Burges scored personal bests in the Cavaliers’ 103-83 regional semifinal victory Thursday over West Virginia. Heather scored 32 points and Heidi 22.

Last season, their best NCAA tournament performances were 13 and nine points, respectively.

“I wasn’t a go-to player then, that’s for sure,” Heidi said. “Now, I can’t not show up.”

Her teammates appreciate the twins’ progress because they remember when the Burges were turnover-prone and fragile.

“We’d be in the (on-court) huddle and they’d be crying and screaming at each other,” Reiss said. “Dawn (Staley) had enough, and she’d be screaming and I would go to the bench and say, ‘Get them out.’ We were always on them. We thought they were babies. (Coach) Debbie Ryan sat us down and told us to encourage them, but I’m from an East Coast mentality that says ‘Get the job done!’ and they have a West Coast mentality.”

Reiss, a New Yorker, bases her idea of a West Coast mentality on one summer at the beach.

“You get up at 7 and eat granola. You exercise all day and bask in the sun, and you get the feeling that nothing will affect you,” she said. “Time is not important. I was in an aura.

“Everyone asks, ‘What’s gotten into Heather and Heidi?’ It’s the simple fact that they are going back to Los Angeles, to the sun and the beach.”

That, at least, is Virginia’s plan, a return trip to the Final Four next weekend at the Sports Arena.

Vanderbilt (22-8) will try to prevent it with strong outside shooting and the inside game of 6-8 Heidi Gillingham.