Jan. 6, 2005
HARRISONBURG, Va. - Old Dominion led from the opening basket and went on to post a 70-58 win over James Madison in Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball Thursday night at the JMU Convocation Center.
The defending CAA champion Monarchs evened their overall record at 5-5 in their opening game of league play. JMU dropped to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the CAA.
The game was close in the opening eight minutes before ODU senior guard Sharese Grant (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) scored six points in an 11-3 scoring run that put ODU up 23-13 with 5:33 remaining.
The Dukes trimmed the lead to two, 27-25 at 2:05, by outscoring the Monarchs 10-2 in a span of 2:36. Freshman Tamera Young (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) jump-started the Dukes with back-to-back three-pointers at 4:41 and 4:10, then sophomore Meredith Alexis (Hanover Township, Pa./Bishop Hoban) scored consecutive buckets at 2:49 and 2:05.
However, ODU scored the game's next six points, with Grant contributing four and junior Lawona Davis (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Centennial) two, to pull ahead 33-25 with 43 seconds left. A driving layup by Young at 0:26 cut the lead to six, 33-27, at intermission.
In the second half, ODU outscored JMU 12-5 to take a 13-point (47-34) lead with 12:47 remaining. JMU got no closer than nine (the last time 62-53 at 2:39) the rest of the way.
ODU shot 51 percent (26-51) from the field, while JMU connected on 39.6 percent (21-53) of its field goal attempts.
JMU turned the ball over 23 times, and the Monarchs had 22 turnovers, including 10 on offensive fouls.
Young led all scorers with 18 points, while ODU's Grant led her team with 17. Grant hit all five of her field-goal attempts and was seven-for-eight from the foul line.
ODU's Davis finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, freshman Tiffany Green (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) had 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, and sophomore Sherida Triggs (Norcross, Ga./Meadowcreek) added 10 points.
For JMU, Alexis had her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, senior Krystal Brooks (Brownsville, Pa./Brownsville) finished with 11 points, and sophomore Lesley Dickinson (Queens Village, N.Y./Christ the King) scored 10.