Like the blast of an air horn in an empty railroad tunnel, Megan Silva's brilliant college basketball career continues to reverberate.

Silva, the most decorated women's player in Randolph-Macon College and Old Dominion Athletic Conference history, was named yesterday to the D3hoops.com all-decade first team.

"I'm stunned. I had no idea," Silva said. "I mean, let's face it: I've been out [of college] for two years now. You don't expect anything -- at least, I didn't -- two years later. I honestly thought the days of seeing my name on the D3hoops.com page were long gone."

Seldom during her career as the Yellow Jackets' point guard did Silva make so serious a miscalculation. The former Hermitage High School standout, a dynamic offensive player and relentless defender, graduated from Randolph-Macon in 2006 with more points (2,371), assists (700) and steals (446) than any player, male or female, in ODAC history. She was the consensus DIII national player of the year as a senior and a first-team All-American as a junior. She was a three-time ODAC player of the year. She led the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA tournament title game as a junior and the Elite Eight as a senior.

The hubbub her career created, she said, "is still pretty hard for me to believe, if you want to know the truth. I'm still trying to get my arms around [the fact that she was universally admired and respected as a competitor]."

Silva, a Phi Beta Kappa as a student, concluded her four-year stay at R-MC by winning the Jostens Trophy, symbolic of national excellence in Division III basketball, academics and community service.

"The important thing to me, maybe the most important thing to me, was I always played for the love of the game," said Silva, now a member of the Richmond Sports Backers' event production team. "It was always fun. I think it has to be fun, because I think that's how you become a good player: by caring passionately about what you're doing; by caring so much that you don't mind doing all the hard work along the way."

D3hoops.com announced an all-decade team in 2008 to celebrate its 10 years of existence. Joining Silva on the first team were guard Taryn Mellody (Scranton '07), forward Allison Coleman (Eastern Connecticut '04), forward Tasha Rodgers (Washington '01) and post player Ronda Jo Miller (Gallaudet '00).