Dec. 7, 2003
NORFOLK, VA- The Old Dominion women's basketball team defeated the previously undefeated #12/13 North Carolina Lady Tar Heels 73-68 Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center, to give the Lady Monarchs their second win of the season over a Top 15 opponent, having defeated Penn State 75-68 at home earlier in the season. Old Dominion improves to 4-3 for the season , while North Carolina suffers their first loss of the season, dropping to 6-1.
In the first half, ODU came out strong, taking a quick 2-0 lead off a Max Nhassengo (Maputo, Mozambique) jumper. Down 4-2 to the Lady Tar Heels, ODU went on a 7-0 run to grab a 9-4 edge with just under 17 minutes left in the half. North Carolina, however, took off with a 9-3 run to retake the lead 13-12, with 14:26 left in the half. That would be the last time UNC would hold the lead for the rest of the half, as ODU took a 14-13 lead off a Shareese Grant (Virginia Beach, VA) layup, and extended their lead to as much as 13 points, 26-13 at the 10:14 mark. North Carolina came back with a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to just two points, 28-26, with 5:40 left in the half. Down 37-35 in the final minute of the half, UNC's Camille Little made a game-tying layup with 36 seconds remaining in the half. The game remained tied going into the half, 37-37. Monique Coker (Bronx, NY) had 10 points at the half to lead the Lady Monarchs.
North Carolina took a quick 39-37 lead to open up the second half, but ODU came back to tie the game up at 39 with a Shareese Grant jumper. With the Lady Monarchs trailing 50-49 with 12:14 remaining in the half, Monique Coker connected on a jumper to give ODU a 51-50 advantage. UNC went back up minutes later, taking a 52-51 lead, but a Myriah Spence (Espanola, NM) three-pointer put ODU back on top 54-52 at the 10:28 mark. Holding onto a slim 68-66 edge with just under a minute left, ODU rolled off five straight points to go up 73-66. A Leah Metcalf layup for North Carolina would be the final score of the game, with ODU taking a 73-68 victory.
For the game, ODU shot 30 of 66 (45.5%) from the field, while North Carolina shot 27 of 54 (50%). The Lady Monarchs held a 38-31 rebounding margin for the game and held a turnover advantage, committing 21 while North Carolina had 24. Myriah Spence and Monique Coker each scored 17 points for ODU during the game, with Shareese Grant and Max Nhassengo adding 13 and 12 points respectively. UNC's Camille Little led all game-scorers with 23 points.
The Lady Monarchs return to action Monday, December 5, taking on Florida International at home. Tip off is set for 7:00 PM. Florida International is the only team ODU has played more than once that the Lady Monarchs are winless against, with a 0-2 all-time record. The game will also mark return of former Lady Monarchs Cindy Russo and Inge Nissen, both Golden Panther coaches.