Jan. 19, 2006
Old Dominion vs. George Mason/James Madison Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Game: Friday: Old Dominion vs. George Mason - Ted Constant Convocation Center - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: Old Dominion vs. James Madison - Ted Constant Convocation Center - 3:00 p.m.
TV: Sunday's game vs. James Madison will be aired live on Comcast Sportsnet (Ch. 35 - Hampton Roads).
Livestats: Livestats are available at www.odusports.com.
Radio: ESPN Radio - 1310 AM - Join 13-time Sportscaster of the Year as Tony Mercurio calls all the action live. He will be joined by ODU Hall of Famer and former Lady Monarch Jan Trombly on color during all home games.
Internet: Live audio of the ESPN 1310 broadcast and video steam of all home games are available via the Monarch All-Access pass at www.odusports.com.
About Old Dominion: Old Dominion, winners of four straight, improved their mark to 6-7 overall and 4-0 in the CAA with a 71-57 win over Hofstra and a 63-53 victory at Drexel last week. With the UNC-Wilmington loss to Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday, the Lady Monarchs are the only undefeated team in CAA play. Last Friday, the Lady Monarch snapped the Pride's four-game win streak and handed them their first CAA loss of the season. The game marked Old Dominion's CAA home opener, which saw three Lady Monarchs in double figures. T.J. Jordan once again led the Lady Monarchs pouring in 16 points, including a 4-of-9 performance from downtown. Sophomore Shahida Williams, in her first career start, had 14 along with a team-high eight boards, while senior Lawona Davis, coming off the bench for the first time this season, added 10 points. Defensively, Old Dominion held Hofstra's bench to only three of its 57 total points. Last Sunday, the Lady Monarchs were able to hold back a Drexel team that would not go quietly and avenged last year's loss at the Daskalakis Athletic Center up in Philadelphia. Old Dominion shot a season-high 55 percent from the field connecting on 22-of-40. Davis came off the bench for the second straight game and had a team-high 18 points and also went a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line. Jordan added in 16 points and five boards for the second consecutive game, which including going 4-of-4 from downtown in the game's first five minutes.
About George Mason: George Mason returns five letterwinners and two starters from last year's team that finished 12-16 overall and sixth in the CAA race with an 8-10 league mark. The Patriots enter the Ted Constant Convocation Center with a 5-9 overall and 1-4 CAA mark. On Sunday, George Mason broke a four-game losing streak and earned its first CAA win of the season with a 70-51 win over William & Mary at the Patriot Center up in Fairfax. The Patriots are led by sophomore forward Moni Akintunde, who is pouring in an average of 11.9 points per game and 7.7 boards. Next on the stat sheet is junior forward Tracy Ann Holness with 9.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest. Old Dominion will travel up to the Patriot Center, site of the CAA Women's Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive year, on Friday, February 10th.
The Series With George Mason: The Patriots are one of five CAA teams that have yet to defeat the Lady Monarchs. Old Dominion owns a 36-0 record against George Mason. The Patriots have come close several times to putting a mark in the win column against the Lady Monarchs, most recently with an 85-81 loss in the CAA Tournament finale in 2004 at the Constant Center and a 68-63 overtime loss during the CAA Tournament semifinals at the ODU Fieldhouse in 2002.
Last Time Vs. George Mason: Old Dominion kept its flawless record over George Mason University's women's basketball team back on February 13, 2005 as the Lady Monarchs claimed a 66-49 victory at the Patriot Center to put the all-time record at 36-0. With this win, ODU improves to 14-7 and 10-2 in CAA play, while the Patriots fall to 9-13 overall and 5-8 in league action. The closest Mason would get to the Lady Monarchs was two points after Tracy Ann Holness made a fastbreak lay-up at the 11:50 mark to put the score at 10-8 in favor of ODU. Old Dominion had their largest lead of the first half at the break, 33-15, as they held the Patriots to a season-low first half point total. The Monarchs continued the trend in the second half as they maintained their lead for the second 20 minutes of the game. ODU had its biggest lead of 25 (50-25) after a made lay-up by Grant at the 8:31 mark. The Patriots closed the gap to 17 points three times in the last five minutes, which was the closest Mason could get to the Monarchs in the second stanza. Former Patriot Julie Flanders netted 13 points after shooting 5-8 from the field, while Holness also scored 13 for the Patriots. Forward Moni Akintunde scored in double figures for Mason with 10 and was one shy of a double-double as she grabbed a team-high nine boards against the Monarchs. Former Lady Monarch Sharese Grant led all scorers with 17 points after shooting 80 percent on the afternoon, while Tiffany Green added 15 points and nine boards for ODU. Tish Lyons netted double digits as well with 10, while Davis dished out a game-high five assists. Mason shot 27 percent (16-60) on the afternoon as ODU was 27-52 from the field (52 percent). The Monarchs edged out Mason in the rebounding category, 38-36, and ODU also scored more points off of turnovers, 18-11.
Lady Monarch-Patriot WNBA Final: Former Lady Monarchs Ticha Penicheiro and Hamchetou Magia weren't the only former CAA standouts to be featured in last year's WNBA final. Former Patriot Jen Derevjanik was a member of the runner-ups, the Connecticut Sun. Derevjanik is probably best remembered for exploding for 40 points against Virginia Commonwealth in the 2004 CAA Tournament.
About James Madison: The Dukes, picked second behind 14-time champion Old Dominion in the CAA Preseason Poll, enter the weekend with an 11-3 overall and 3-2 CAA mark. James Madison will host Towson on Friday night before traveling to Norfolk. The Dukes won 10 of their first 11 games of the 2005-06 season and closed out non-conference competition with an 8-1 mark. Their lone non-conference set back as a 71-86 loss at Virginia Tech, the same team, which Old Dominion fell to 69-76 in the Hokies' next outing. After their loss to the Hokies, the Dukes rattled off nine straight victories. The win streak came to a halt two weeks ago as Delaware handed James Madison a 62-70 loss at the Bob Carpenter Center. Although the Dukes rebounded by defeated CAA newcomer Northeastern, 68-56, James Madison fell to Hofstra in their last outing, a 65-53 setback.
The All-Time Series With James Madison: The Lady Monarchs have face no other opponent as many times as they have the Dukes. Sunday's game will represent the 59th meeting between Old Dominion and James Madison with the Lady Monarchs owning a 45-13 advantage in the all-time series. Four of those 13 James Madison victories have occurred during CAA competition with probably the most memorable Duke win being the 49-48 victory which snapped ODU's 113 game CAA win-streak. The Lady Monarchs have won the last five meetings with the Dukes' last victory coming in overtime on February 9, 2003, 98-95.
Last Time Vs. James Madison: Former Lady Monarch Shareese Grant finished her final home game by netting a then season-high 24 points and hauling in a game-high nine rebounds as the Old Dominion women's basketball team rolled to a 92-61 victory over James Madison in its regular season home finale back on February 27, 2005. The loss snapped a six-game win streak. In all, four Lady Monarchs reached double figured led by Grant. The 5-8 senior guard went 11-of-16 from the field while adding in four assists and four steals. Lawona Davis contributed 19 points with 12 of them coming the in the first. Sophomore Sherida Triggs added in 12, including four blocks, while rookie Tiffany Green poured in 11.
Take It To The Bench: Old Dominion has done a pretty good job of stifling the opponent's bench production in their last three games. The Lady Monarchs allowed William & Mary to score only two of its 68 points in a 77-68 victory from off the bench. Hofstra's bench was limited to three points in a 71-57 victory and Drexel was held to 10 points from non-starters in last Sunday's 63-53 win.
In A New Role: Senior Lawona Davis has enjoyed her new role of being a sparkplug off the ODU bench in the Lady Monarchs' last two games. After netting only four points against William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth to open up the CAA portion of the schedule, Davis has since come off the Lady Monarch bench to ignite for 10 points against Hofstra and a team-high 18 at Drexel.
CAA Tournament Tickets Available: Tickets for both the men's and women's CAA tournaments are available to order now from the ODU Athletic Ticket office. Call 683-5484 for more information. Despite some confusion on the reservation contact, the fan room block for the CAA women's tournament at the Fairfax Marriott is still available for all fans. Please contact Chris Clement, Sports Account Executive, Marriott Hotels of Northern Virginia Fax: 1-866-538-9051, E-mail: chris.clement@marriott.com.
Promotions With The Patriots: Friday is Virginia Lottery sunglasses night at the women's game with George Mason.. The first 500 fans receive a free pair of sun glasses courtesy of the Virginia Lottery. Also one lucky fan will win an AirTran airline ticket, good for travel anywhere in the continental US.