Jan. 15, 2006
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Old Dominion women's basketball team picked up its fourth straight holding off the Drexel Dragons, 63-53, at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Monarch improve to 6-7 overall and 4-0 in the CAA, while the Dragons fall to 6-8 overall and 1-4 in the league.
Old Dominion shot a season-high 55 percent from the field connecting on 22-of-40.
Senior Lawona Davis (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) came off the bench to pour in a team-high 18 points and also went a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line. Sophomore T.J. Jordan (Portsmouth, Va.) added 16, including going 4-of-4 from downtown in the game's first five minutes.
CAA Preseason Player of the Year Catherine Scanlon led Drexel and all scorers with 19 points and seven rebounds. Narissa Suber had 14, but only went 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. Suber's three's were the thorn in ODU's side in last year's loss at the Daskalakis Center.
Old Dominion held the lead the entire game and posted a 34-25 lead at intermisson holding off a late Drexel surge in the first half. The game opened with the Lady Monarchs taking a 16-5 lead. Moments later fueled by a barrage of three-point shooting from Jordan and junior Tish Lyons (Newport News, Va.), Old Dominion saw it lead extend to 14 with a 19-5 edge with 14:39 left in the half.
Late in the second half though, the Dragons made a run and cut ODU's 14 point lead down to three. After junior Sherida Triggs (Norcross, Ga.) collected a bucket to bring the score to 25-14 with 6:36 on the clock, Drexel took an 8-0 run to get back into the game. Over the final 2:39 though, the Lady Monarchs outscored Drexel 9-2 for the halftime score.
In the second half, the Lady Monarchs responded by quickly establishing a double digit lead. Once again the Dragons did not go quitely and helped an 11-point Lady Monarch lead with 8:04 left in the game, disappear to only a four point edge with 2:42 remaining.
Leading 57-53, the Old Dominion defense held Drexel scorless over the game's final 1:37 while going on to score six for the game's final margin.
Old Dominion returns home for two games next weekend. The Lady Monarch host George Mason on Friday and James Madison on Sunday. Sunday's game will be televised by Comcast.