Jan. 25, 2006
Old Dominion at Hofstra/Towson Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Game: Friday: Old Dominion at Hofstra - Hofstra Arena - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: Old Dominion at Towson - Towson Center - 2:00 p.m.
Live Stats: Live stats are available only for Sunday's game at Towson at www.towsontigers.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: With victories over George Mason (71-55) and James Madison (72-63) last week, the Old Dominion women's basketball team extended its win streak to six games and moved their overall record above .500 for the first time this season. The Lady Monarchs now stand at 8-7 overall and 6-0 in league play and begin a two-game road swing this weekend. Old Dominion and Hofstra will battle on Friday night for first place and close out the season series. The Pride stand at 6-1 in the CAA women's basketball race with its lone loss at Old Dominion, 71-57, back on January 13th. Additionally, the Lady Monarchs will travel to Towson on Sunday in their lone meeting this season with the Tigers.
Recapping Last Weekend: Old Dominion picked up two victories last weekend with a 71-55 victory over George Mason and a 72-63 win in front of the Comcast cameras over James Madison. Last Friday night, Old Dominion used a second-half rally for its 37th straight victory over George Mason. The Lady Monarchs held on to only a one-point lead at the half, 35-34. However, half number two proved to be a different story for Old Dominion as they outscored George Mason, 21-5, in the first 11 minutes. A Sherida Triggs jumper, two of 11 points she had during that span, gave the Lady Monarchs a 56-39 lead with nine minutes remaining. Triggs ended the night with a double-double of a career-high 22 points along with a season-high 12 rebounds and tied her career-high with four blocks. It was her first career double-double of the season and fourth of her career. Triggs posted another double-double on Sunday along with senior Lawona Davis in ODU's victory over the Dukes. Davis notched her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally, she went 2-of-2 from the free throw line and added in five assists and four steals. Triggs this time poured in 16 points and 11 rebounds.
About Hofstra: Its been two weeks since Hofstra and Old Dominion battled each other on the hardwood. The Pride enter Friday night's game with an 11-5 overall record and sit in second place in the CAA league race with a 6-1 mark. Hofstra's lone conference loss this season has been to the Lady Monarchs. Junior center Vanessa Gidden continues to lead her squad averaging 14.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Last time versus the Lady Monarchs though, Gidden was held to two points at the half, but ended with night with 12. Junior guard Cigi McCollin is also averaging double figure pouring in 14.0 points along with 4.1 rebounds per game. McCollin had a game-high 22 points in the first meeting.
The Series With Hofstra: Old Dominion holds a 10-1 record in the all-time series with Hofstra, as the two teams have meet each year since the Pride joined the CAA back in the 2001-02 season. Hofstra's lone win in the series came on January 18th, 2004 as the Pride edged the Lady Monarchs, 72-74. Since that loss, the Lady Monarchs have collected five straight wins over the Pride including their last 100 point game with a 105-62 win at the Constant Center on February 12, 2004.
Last Time Vs. Hofstra: Old Dominion snapped Hofstra's four-game win streak and handed the Pride its first loss in CAA competition with a 71-57 victory at the Ted Constant Convocation Center back on January 13th. over the Pride of Hofstra University. After trading baskets during the opening minutes of the first half, Tish Lyons sparked a 15-3 run to give Old Dominion a 10-point lead, 23-13, with 7:41 left in the half. The Pride, however, used a run of its own to pull within three. Junior Cigi McCollin scored five of Hofstra's seven straight points to close to within 23-20 as 5:30 appeared on the clock. The Lady Monarch defense held court once again holding the Pride scoreless over the next two and half minutes. Old Dominion managed to put seven unanswered points on the scoreboard capped by a three-pointer by leading scorer T.J. Jordan Old Dominion held a 33-25 lead at the intermission. Old Dominion held Hofstra to just one field goal in the first five minutes of the second half while pouring in 11 points to hold a 46-29 advantage. Again, the Pride did not go quietly continually chipped away at the lead. Hofstra leading scorer, Vanessa Gidden, who was held to only two points at the half, managed to net 10 in half number two. McCollin's traditional three-point play started the first of eight unanswered points by the Pride as Hofstra closed the gap to 11, 46-35 with 11:46 left. Back and forth the two teams went until a lay-up by Gidden and two free throws by Lizanne Murphy cut the Pride deficit to double digits, 54-45, with 8:02 remaining. The Lady Monarchs saw its lead go back to double figures within a minute and extended their edge by as many as 18 late in the game. After Jenn Hughes hit one of two free throws for the Pride bringing the score to 56-42 at the 6:47 mark, Hofstra was held without a field goal for over five minutes. Lyons hitting one of two shot award brought ODU to an 18-point, 64-46 lead with 4:38 to go. Jordan once again led the Lady Monarchs with 18 points, including a 4-of-9 performance from downtown. Shahida Williams, in her first career start, had 14 along with a team-high eight boards. Davis, coming off the bench, added 10 points. Hofstra's bench scored only three of its 57 total points. McCollin led all scorers with 22, while Gidden added 12 along with a team-high eight rebounds. Murphy had 13 points, while India Ali dished out a game-high seven assists.
About Towson: Sunday afternoon will mark the first and only meeting between the Tigers and Lady Monarchs this season. Towson will host William & Mary Friday night before entertaining Old Dominion on Sunday. Towson enjoyed a very successful 2004-05 campaign in which the Tigers posted the biggest program turnaround in CAA history, going 16-14 overall. They were 9-9 in CAA play and earned the fifth-seed in the CAA Tournament, Towson's highest ever. The Tigers enter this weekend's competition with a 7-5 overall mark and 2-9 CAA record. Among their victories was a 63-48 victory over the Wake Forest. It was the first against an ACC opponent for Towson since Feb. 20, 1975 when the Tigers defeated Maryland 86-68. Towson is currently on a four-game losing skid, having dropped contests to Delaware, Georgia State, James Madison, and Virginia Commonwealth. Senior forward Tierra Jackson is averaging 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds to lead the Tigers. Sophomore guard Jamell Beasley has been averaging 11.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest.
The Series With Towson: The Tigers remain one of five CAA teams that have yet to defeat the Lady Monarchs. Old Dominion holds an 8-0 record all-time since the two teams became conference rivals when Towson joined the league in the 2001-02 season. The closest game between these two teams occurred on February 5, 2004 as the Lady Monarchs escaped the Towson Center with a 68-64 victory. Overall, Old Dominion has averaged 30.0 point victories.
Last Time Vs. Towson: Old Dominion completed the season sweep of Towson on February 6th, 2005 afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center with 78-56 victory as junior Lawona Davis tied her career-high, scoring 25 points for the second straight time against the Tigers and adding 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Davis went 10-of-16 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line. The Lady Monarchs held a one-point lead at the half, entering the locker room ahead 33-32. Old Dominion controlled the second half though outscoring Towson 45-24, which included 17 of Davis' 25 points. Tiger leading scorer Tierra Jackson started the half with a bucket to give Towson its last lead of the game. Two free throws by Davis immediately following gave Old Dominion the lead it would not lose. Towson would managed to tie up the game three more times, the last at 46-46 with 12:35 left, but Old Dominion took over, racing out on a 13-2 run. Megan Pym capped off the run as the Lady Monarchs led 59-48 with 8:17 remaining and held on to a double-digit lead from there on. Over the final 2:37 of the game, Old Dominion outscored the Tigers 12-1. Kelly Robinson, whose three consecutive three-pointers sparked the Tigers on one of their first half runs, concluded the game with a team-high 15 points. Talbot netted 14 points, which included her 1,000th career point. She became the 12th Tiger to reach the milestone. Jackson was the other Tiger in double figures with 13. Along with Davis, Shareese Grant and Tish Lyons reached double figures. Grant netted 17 to go along with five assists and three steals, while Lyons poured in eight of her 15 points from the free throw line. The Lady Monarchs shot above 80 percent from the free throw line for only the third time that season, hitting 23-of-27 for an 85.2 clip. It was their best performance from the stripe since knocking down 31-of-36 (86.1 percent) in their upset victory over then #16/19 Rutgers earlier that season. Both Davis, who at the time was the nation's fourth leading free throw shooter, and Pym went perfect from the line hitting 5-of-5 and 4-of-4 respectively. Additionally, Old Dominion was a monster on the boards outrebounding Towson 42-24. Davis led the way in her first career double-digit rebounding effort with 10 rebounds. Leading rebounder, freshman Tiffany Green hauled in seven. Kelly Talbot and LaShay Rose each had four boards to lead Towson.
Sherida Triggs Named CAA Co-Player Of The Week: Junior Sherida Triggs was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Co-Player of the Week for the week ending January 22nd. Triggs averaged a double-double in victories over George Mason and James Madison with 19 points and 11.5 rebounds and shot 65 percent from the field. Against the Patriots, Triggs posted her first double-double of the season and fourth of her career with a career-high 22 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Additionally she tied her career-high with four blocks. The Norcross, Georgia native followed with her second consecutive double-double with 16 points and a game-high 11 boards versus James Madison. On the season, Triggs is averaging 11.4 points, good for second on the Lady Monarch squad, and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game. In the conference, she leads the league in field goal percentage shooting at a .577 clip.
Double Your Pleasure: Senior Lawona Davis and junior Sherida Triggs both posted double-doubles as the Old Dominion women's basketball team earned a 72-63 over James Madison Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Davis notched her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally, she went 2-of-2 from the free throw line and added in five assists and four steals. Davis was the first Lady Monarch to perform the double-double this season as she had 11 points and a game-high 10 boards at Virginia Tech. The 10 boards tied her career high which occurred in meetings with CAA rivals Towson and William & Mary last season. Davis scored nine of her 11 points against the Hokies in the second half. Typically known for driving to the basket, she opened the second half draining back-to-back three's. Davis nearly collected another double-double with a season-high 21 points and nine boards in against #19/20 Vanderbilt. Triggs, coming off a career-high 22-point performance Friday night against George Mason, performed her second straight double-double, this time pouring in 16 points and 11 rebounds.
.500 And Climbing: The 71-55 victory over George Mason on January 20th put Old Dominion at .500 on the year with a 7-7 overall mark and the 72-63 win over James Madison pushed ODU's win percentage over .500 for the first time this season. The Lady Monarchs have won six straight after ending the non-conference season with a 2-7 overall record.
Girls And Women In Sport Day: Old Dominion University and the Lady Monarchs will join thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletes, and parents across the nation in celebration of the 20th Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day at the Ted Constant Convocation Center, Friday, February 3 at 5:30 p.m. In connection with the Lady Monarch's game v. CAA conference rival Drexel University, Old Dominion University will hold a girls in sports symposium to educate females on the importance of physical activity, proper health and nutrition, and the benefits of participation in sports. The event will be geared toward middle and high school students, however anyone interested in attending will be welcome. Special guest speakers at the symposium include: emcee Jan Trombly, former ODU Lady Monarch team captain and 1984 Team USA Handball member; certified trainer/EMT, Terri Zablocki; ODU Field Hockey coach and Olympic field hockey medalist, Beth Anders; and World Champion racquetball player Malia Bailey. Joining these outstanding sportswomen for a question and answer session will be a panel of female ODU athletes. Admission to the symposium is free with the purchase of a ticket to the ODU v. Drexel game at 7:00p.m. To register for the event and purchase discount game tickets, contact Heather Vieira at 757-683-5000 or David Weisser at 757-683-5444.
Delaware Fan Bus: Are you interested in attending the game at Delaware on Sunday, February 19 to cheer on your Lady Monarchs? Take pride in your Lady Monarchs and show your support by riding the "Delaware Fan Bus." The bus will leave campus (pick-up location to be determined) at 6 a.m. Game time is 1 p.m. and game tickets will be $8.00 in addition to the cost of the bus. The bus will return to ODU after the game.The cost per person will be $36.75 if there is a full bus of 47 passengers (your cost will go up if less than 47 people ride the bus). To reserve your spot, please email Sarah Teachey at steachey@odu.edu or call the women's basketball office at 683-3401. Please RSVP by Friday, February 10 so it can determined if there are enough people to reserve the bus.
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.