Feb. 12, 2005
The University of Delaware women's basketball team jumped out to a 16-point second half lead and held off a furious comeback by Old Dominion to defeat the Monarchs, 62-58, Friday night before a school-record crowd at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The Blue Hens improved to 19-2 overall and 12-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association by posting their school record-tying 17th straight victory, tied with Gonzaga for the longest streak in Division I. Delaware increased its lead in the conference to two games and a half games over second place Old Dominion, which fell to 13-7 overall and 9-2 in the league.
Delaware, which defeated Old Dominion, 73-70, last month in Norfolk to snap the Monarchs' 122-game CAA home winning streak, became the first conference opponent to sweep ODU since Richmond in the 1991-92 season. The Blue Hens also won their 11th straight home game while playing before 4772 fans, the largest home women's basketball crowd in school history.
The Blue Hens jumped out to a 33-22 halftime lead, and after Old Dominion closed to within eight at 33-25 with 18:59 remaining, Delaware went on a 10-2 run and took its largest advantage of the game at 43-27 with 12:08 left when Tyresa Smith hit a lay-up. UD still led 47-33 with 9:06 to play, but the Monarchs' TJ Jordan, who finished with a career-high 28 points, nailed consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 47-39 with 8:28 on the clock.
Delaware senior Tiara Malcom, who finished with a team-high 18 points, drained two free throws to put the Blue Hens back up 10, but Lawona Davis converted a three-point play and Jordan again hit back-to-back three-pointers to bring Old Dominion within 49-48 with 5:36 remaining. After Malcom and Jordan each hit two free throws, Julie Sailer hit a baseline jumper and Smith made two foul shots to extend Delaware's lead to 55-50 with 2:49 to play.
The Monarchs' Jen Nuzzo answered with a three-pointer, and after Tiffany Young hit two free throws for the Blue Hens at the 1:19 mark, Lyons grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it 57-55 with 25 seconds left. However Liz Hayes drained two free throws and, following a miss by Jordan, Alena Koshansky hit two more foul shots to put the Blue Hens up 61-55 with 11 seconds remaining. Jordan hit her seventh and final three-pointer with six seconds left, but Koshansky put the game away by hitting one of two from the charity stripe with three seconds to play.
Delaware, which got 15 points and five rebounds off the bench from Young, went 28-of-34 from the free throw line while the Monarchs were just 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Sailer finished with eight points and four assists, while Smith added six points and a pair of steals. Green had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds for Old Dominion but except for Jordan no other Monarch had more than five points.
The Blue Hens used an early 8-0 run to take a 10-4 lead with 13:44 remaining in the first half, and extended the margin to 25-14 with 4:32 remaining on a jumper by Malcom. Old Dominion got within nine twice late in the period, but Young scored with 27 seconds on the clock to send Delaware to the half up 11 points.
The Lady Monarchs return to action on Sunday when they travel to George Mason for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off at the Patriot Center.