Jan. 25, 2004
NORFOLK, VA -- Sophomore Lawona Davis (Port St. Lucie, LF) set a new career-high to lead the Old Dominion women's basketball team with 18 points, as the Lady Monarchs defeated conference rival George Mason, 77-54, in front of 5,022 fans Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
The Lady Monarchs, winners of their second straight, improve to 11-6 overall, 6-1 in CAA play, and continue to be perfect at home sporting a 7-0 record at the Constant Center. George Mason, suffering its largest loss of the season, falls to 9-5 overall and 4-3 in league play.
The Old Dominion defense held the Patriots to just 19 points at the half, George Mason's lowest scoring output of the season in the first 20 minutes of a game. Patriot senior guard Jen Derevjanik, who entered the game as the CAA's second-leading scorer averaging over 19 points per game, was held to just one point at the half. Although Derevjanik finished the game with 10 points, eight of those points came from the free throw line as she was only 2-of-13 from the field.
The Lady Monarchs opened the game on 14-4 run and never looked back as Old Dominion held a 39-18 edge at the end of the first half. Senior forward Vernessa Neamo cut the Patriot's deficit down to single digits on a lay-up at the 11:27 mark as Old Dominion led, 16-8, but from there the Lady Monarchs would maintain a double-digit lead. The Lady Monarchs led by as many as 22 in the first half capped off by a lay-up by redshirt freshman Shantel Wilson (Washington, D.C.) with just over a minute remaining ended a 11-0 run by Old Dominion.
The Patriots could not over come its first half deficit despite nearly equally Old Dominion's output in the second half, 36-38. Three times in the second half, George Mason pulled within 15, but it would the closest the Patriots would come to the Lady Monarchs lead in the second half. After a lay-up by junior guard Laura Kooij with 8:11 remaining and the score at 59-44, the Lady Monarchs held the Patriots to one field goal the rest of the game and proceeded to go on a 10-1 run to take a game-high 24 point lead. Freshman Tish Lyons (Newport News, VA) scored four of her career-high 10 points during that span as Old Dominion went up 69-45 with 4:26 left in the game. George Mason converted eight of their 14 attempts from the charity stripe and a lay-up by senior center Osato Edobor-Osula rounded out the Patriot scoring.
Senior Monique Coker (Bronx, NY) continued to have George Mason's number. The Preseason First Team All-CAA pick, who had previously set career marks in scoring and rebounding against the Patriots last season, notched another double-double, her ninth of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Junior guard Shareese Grant (Va. Beach, VA), was also one of four Lady Monarchs in double digits, with 16 points.
George Mason's Derevjanik netted 11 of her game-high 12 points in the second half as one of three Patriots in double figures. Neamo registered 11 before fouling out and Kooij added 10.
The Lady Monarchs outrebounded their opponent 50-36. Connecting on 33-of-67 from the field, Old Dominion nearly shot 50 percent for the second straight game, hitting 49.3 percent for the game. George Mason shot only 29.3 percent (17-of-58) and was held to 7.7 percent from beyond the arc after entering the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the CAA.
Old Dominion, in the midst of a three-game home stand, will take on UNC-Wilmington in their next game on Thursday, January 29th. The Seahawks were picked to finished second behind the Lady Monarchs in the Preseason Coaches' Poll.