Howard, CAA Preseason Player of the Year, added seven assists, three rebounds, and two steals to lead the Lady Monarchs to a win in their first exhibition match. Giddens went 7-of-9 from the floor and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. She also added seven rebounds.
Redshirt freshman Corrina Turner (Miami, FL) pulled down a game-high nine boards as ODU out rebounded Team Concept 55-33. Rookie Lawona Davis (Port St. Lucie, FL) also had an impressive outing as the team's top scorer of the benchs, netting 12 on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. Davis came off the bench in the first half and tallied eight of her points in less than three minutes. She also hauled in six rebounds.
Giddens scored on a running lay up over several Team Concept defenders to put the Lady Monarchs up 26-9 midway through the first half. Team Concept was able to cut their deficit to nine with Tomeka Brown's lay up with 44 seconds left but the visitors trailed 41-30 at halftime.
Giddens led the first half with 10 points and Howard added seven points, four assists and two steals in 14 minutes of play. LaQuanda Barksdale, who is a member of the WNBA's Portland Fire, led Team Concept in the first half with seven points and four rebounds.
The Lady Monarchs opened up a 23 point lead almost halfway through the second half would not look back from there, shooting 54 percent for the period. Paula Muxiri (Luanda, Angola) scored eight of her ten points in the final 20 minutes as ODU outscored Team Concept 49-30 to take the convincing victory. As a team the Lady Monarchs shot 52 percent from the floor and held the visitors to a just 31 percent.
LaTonya Washington of the Washington Mystics lead Team Concept with 15 points and added six boards and three steals.
The Lady Monarch basketball team will return to action in its final exhibition showing of the 2002-03 preseason against the Basketball Travelers on Wednesday, November 13th at 7:00 p.m.