| Southern Methodist's Kenni Patton tries to pass the ball around ODU's Okeisha Howard during their NCAA Women's second-round game in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Gary C. Knapp) |
Norfolk, Va. (March 20) - The fourth seeded Old Dominion Lady Monarchs (29-4) defeated the Mustangs of Southern Methodist 96-76 at the Old Dominion Fieldhouse March 20to advance to their fifth-straight "Sweet 16."
In her second game back, Lucienne Berthieu (Rennes, France) led the Monarchs with 22 points.
SMU made a run to begin the game, leading the Lady Monarchs 8-5 but that would be the last time they would be on top. Old Dominion would take over from there and continue to maintain a margin of between five to nine points throughout the first half. Old Dominion led going into halftime 37-30.
The Lady Monarchs came out strong in the second half using a full court press to wear the Mustangs down. SMU continued to play tough and cut the lead to five, 56-51 with 10:06 left on the clock.
Old Dominion began a 12-0 run holding the Mustangs scoreless for more than three minutes late in the second half. Natalie Diaz (Needles, Calif.) fueled the run, hitting on three of four from beyond the arc. She was one of the five Monarchs in double figures as the team shot 50 percent from the floor. Hamchetou Maiga (Bamako, Mali) contributed with a double- double, grabbing an NCAA first/second round record 20 rebounds to go along with 15 points.
The Lady Monarchs will play the winner of the Louisiana Tech- Vanderbilt game on Saturday night in Kansas City, MO.