Jan. 16, 2003
NORFOLK, VA - Junior forward Monique Coker's (Bronx, NY) fourth double-double of the year,15 points and 11 rebounds, surged the Old Dominion women's basketball team past the Dukes of James Madison, 58-48, at the Ted Constant Convocation Center Thursday night to give the Lady Monarchs its 100th straight conference win on their home court.
Old Dominion improves to 7-5 on the season, with a perfect 4-0 record in the CAA, and now carries a three-game winning streak. The Lady Monarchs move to 104-1 at home and have only dropped one CAA contest in Norfolk, a 70-74 setback to former CAA member Richmond on February 19, 1992. The Dukes drop to 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
The Lady Monarchs jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the first half, holding the Dukes scoreless through the opening three minutes of play. Junior guard Max Nhassengo (Maputo, Mozambique) gave ODU a 12-point lead with a lay-up at the 9:12 mark, but the next Old Dominion basket would not come until almost four minutes later with a Grant jumper at 5:21, giving the Lady Monarchs a game-high 14-point lead. Allowing only one Old Dominion free throw the rest of the half, James Madison was able to cut the advantage to seven at the half, 30-23.
In the second half, the Dukes would bounce back with a 10-2 run, led by a stingy zone defense that would only allow one Lady Monarchs field goal in the first 12 minutes of play. Senior guard Jody LeRose gave James Madison its first lead of the game at the 15:37 mark draining a three-pointer to put the Dukes up by one 32-31. James Madison extended its lead to five, 36-41, but the Lady Monarchs would continue to chip away at the lead until a lay-up by senior point guard Okeisha Howard (Va. Beach, VA) returned the lead back to the Lady Monarchs, 44-42 with just over six minutes remaining. The Dukes went back up one, 47-48, as Jess Cichowicz sunk both her free throws with 3:40 remaining, but it the last points James Madison would score all night. Old Dominion proceeded on a 11-0 run to close the game highlighted by seven points by Coker down the stretch.
Free throws kept Old Dominion in the game as the Lady Monarchs shot a season best 86 percent from the charity stripe. Three Lady Monarchs held perfect free throw percentages including Coker's 9-for-9 performance.
The Dukes got 15 points from senior forward Shanna Price and 13 points from LeRose. Cichowicz netted nine along with a game-high seven assists.
The Lady Monarchs next hit the road for two games. Sunday Old Dominion will travel to Towson for a 1:00 p.m. CAA match-up with the Tigers and on Tuesday, the Lady Monarchs will tip-off against their fifth Top 25 opponent in Penn State. Tuesday's game will be televised on Cox (Ch. 71).