Virginia

Some athletes make their college decisions in sealed-off bedrooms, shortly after pulling out their hair. Others do so at the kitchen table, surrounded by friends and family. Last night, star lineman Ray Kane, of Archbishop Carroll, announced his final verdict in a car. "I went down to see the Villanova-Pitt basketball game at the Spectrum," Kane said. "I'd been doing a lot of thinking. On the way home, I turned to my father and said, 'I'm going to Virginia.' " The 6-4, 240-pound Kane, who played full time at defensive tackle and part time at offensive tackle, last month was named Lineman of the Year in connection with the Daily News All-Scholastic Football Team.

Heather Burge tied her career high with 30 points and had a career-best 14 rebounds last night as second-ranked Virginia pounded winless Canisius, 92-36, in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia (3-0) held a 60-27 rebounding edge over Canisius (0-3), which had no starter taller than 6-foot, 1-inch Rachel Decker. The 6-5 Burge had 11 of her rebounds on the offensive end. Duquesne 87, Penn 78 - Tausha Williams scored 22 points to lift the Dukes (1-1) to the victory at Pittsburgh.

Already in tune with the future, Trey Womack doesn't think he will have a problem catching up with the college beat. Womack, a Malvern Prep senior wide receiver and cornerback from Springfield, Delaware County, has orally committed to attend Virginia on a football scholarship. Primarily recruited as a defensive back, Womack said last night that, because of his 4.3 speed in the 40-yard dash, the Cavaliers have told him that he might play other positions in the future. "I think I could play some wide receiver there," Womack said.

In an unusual arrangement, Matt Blundin of Ridley High will play basketball at the University of Virginia next year on a football scholarship. The multi-talented athlete yesterday committed formally to the Cavaliers with the understanding that his first-year tuition will be paid with a scholarship allocated to the university's football program. Blundin, 18, said there was no doubt in his mind that he would suit up in Virginia sneakers and shorts. "It's a big challenge to play basketball at Virginia," said Blundin, who had been heavily recruited in both football and basketball.

Second-ranked Virginia went down to the wire with No. 14 Stephen F. Austin at University Hall in a second-round NCAA women's Midwest Regional contest yesterday, but unlike some other notable teams that have already fallen, the Cavaliers managed to land on their feet in the final seconds. The play that saved Virginia (28-2) from joining No. 1 Penn State, No. 5 Purdue and No. 8 Louisiana State on the pile of also-rans in this year's event occurred with four seconds to play, when Dobbins High graduate Dawn Staley penetrated and dished off to 6-foot-5 Heather Burge, who made a shot from underneath the basket to give the Cavaliers a 74-72 victory.

One of the most sought-after swimmers in the country recently picked his pool for the next four years. Fran Crippen, a senior at Germantown Academy, orally committed to swim for the University of Virginia. The 17-year-old is not only a force in high school competition. He also has made an impact on the national scene. He won his first national swimming title this summer with a victory in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships in Clovis, Calif. His time was 7 minutes, 59.86 seconds.

The Golf Association of Philadelphia team won the annual Mason-Dixon matches against the Middle Atlantic Association (Maryland, Virginia and Washington) by one point yesterday at Golden Horseshoe Country Club in Williamsburg, Va. After finishing Saturday's better-ball matches tied at 3, Philadelphia won yesterday's singles by 6 1/2-5 1/2 to win the series, 9 1/2-8 1/2. Bill McGuinness, current Philadelphia amateur champion, won the No. 1 singles by 4 and 3 over Kirk Lombardi.

Maryland coach Chris Weller has waited 17 years to see Cole Fieldhouse filled to capacity for a women's basketball game, and last night she saw her dream come true. Unfortunately for Weller and most of the standing-room-only crowd of more than 14,500, they didn't get what they wanted, but they came ever so close. The top-ranked Terrapins (20-2 overall, 10-1 conference) were nipped by second-ranked Virginia, 75-74, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game that gave the Cavaliers revenge for Maryland's 67-65 upset of Virginia in Charlottesville last month when the Cavs held the No. 1 ranking.

Shawnee lefthander Sean Doolittle, The Inquirer's South Jersey baseball player of the year, has made an oral commitment to attend the University of Virginia. Doolittle made his decision last week and plans to sign during the early signing period, Nov. 12-19. "Virginia has a good reputation athletically and academically," Doolittle said yesterday. "It had everything I was looking for. " Doolittle had made an official campus visit the last week of September. He also visited North Carolina, Duke and James Madison.

Dan Ellis, who broke virtually every single-season school passing record as a junior last fall at Downingtown High, has accepted a full scholarship offer to play quarterback at the University of Virginia. Ellis had no varsity experience at quarterback before his junior season but still posted impressive numbers. Last year, he completed 110 of 203 passes for 1,921 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was intercepted just eight times. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder was also a ferocious hitter as a linebacker.

Caroline Bunting and Nina Corcoran each had two goals and two assists, but the visiting Penn women were defeated by Virginia, 12-6, Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament at Multi-Sport Field in Washington. Casey Bocklet scored four goals for Virginia, which improved to 10-9 and will face Georgetown in the second round on Sunday. The Quakers ended their season with an 11-6 record. In another first-round game, the Penn State women beat Canisius, 14-13, and advanced to the second round at 1 p.m. Sunday against Massachusetts, which beat Connecticut, 14-10.

DOSWELL, Va. - Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in a cemetery in central Virginia, infuriating some members of the area's Islamic community who say they weren't consulted and flooring at least one neighbor who said she didn't even know she lived near a burial ground. The secret interment this week at a small Islamic cemetery ended a frustrating search for a community willing to take the body, which had been kept at a funeral parlor in Worcester, Mass., as cemeteries in Massachusetts and several other states refused to accept the remains.

Penn Virginia Corp., the Radnor energy company focusing on the prolific Eagle Ford oil-shale formation in Texas, reported a $3 million first-quarter operating loss on Wednesday, a slight improvement over the $3.4 million loss a year ago. The company also boosted its 2013 production and revenue guidance from projections it made in early April. Production is expected to be 6.7 million to 7.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, compared to 6.5 million to 7.2 million barrels; crude oil production is expected to increase by 60 percent to 78 percent over 2012 levels, compared to previous guidance of 57 percent to 76 percent growth.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Jimmie Johnson pulled away on a restart with eight laps to go and won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. It was his eighth career victory on the shortest track in the series. Only Richard Petty (15) and Darrell Waltrip (11) have won more. Clint Bowyer was second and Jeff Gordon was third. Kasey Kahne, who restarted fifth, went underneath to take fourth.   IndyCar BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ryan Hunter-Reay ended Penske Racing's domination at Barber Motorsports Park by holding off Scott Dixon to win the IndyCar Series race.

Penn Virginia Corp., which has a long history in the coal and gas business, is becoming more oily. The Radnor energy company announced that it was dramatically expanding its holdings in the oil-rich Eagle Ford Shale in south Texas with the acquisition of 19,000 acres of prospective and producing leases for $401 million. The company agreed to buy the leases from Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. The acreage contains estimated proved reserves of 12 million barrels of oil equivalent.

NEWARK, Del. - Hold the epitaph for the Elena Delle Donne era at Delaware for a little while longer. The sixth-seeded Blue Hens and their all-American leader fought back from a seven-point deficit at halftime Sunday to beat 11th seed West Virginia, 66-53, in a Bridgeport subregional game of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The win in front of a sellout crowd of 4,532 in the Bob Carpenter Center advanced the Blue Hens to a second-round game Tuesday at 7 p.m. They will play third-seeded North Carolina (29-6)

WASHINGTON - Two Marines were shot and killed late Thursday at the Officer Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, and the suspected shooter, also a Marine, fatally shot himself inside a barracks on the base, authorities said. The shooter gunned down a man before seizing a woman and killing her and then himself, officials said. They declined to publicly discuss a possible motive in the attacks, but said the incident was neither a terrorist incident nor an attempt to cause mass casualties.