Feb. 28, 2006
Game: Thursday: Old Dominion at James Madison - JMU Convocation Center - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday: Old Dominion at Georgia State - GSU Arena - 6:00 p.m.
Live Stats: Live stats are not available for this week's games.
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: This week marks the end of the regular season for the Lady Monarchs. Although the Lady Monarchs have already clinched the top seed for the upcoming 2006 CAA Women's Basketball Championship, two games are still left on the slate as Old Dominion travels to James Madison on Thursday and Georgia State on Saturday. The Lady Monarchs will be attempting to hand the Dukes its first loss this season at the JMU Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, while they travel to GSU Arena in Atlanta for the first time this season.
Recapping Last Week: The Old Dominion women's basketball team extended its winning streak to 16 games, as they defeated Virginia Commonwealth University and William and Mary at the Ted Convocation Center last weekend. Tish Lyons poured in a career high 22 points making 10-of-16 field goals to lead all scorers in the Friday night victory over the Rams, while sophomore Shahida Williams her second career double-double with 14 points and ten boards. During the second half, ODU as a team shot a .767 percent from the field for 55 points. On Sunday, ODU hosted William and Mary at the Constant Center and picked up an 85-33 victory. In her last home game for the Lady Monarchs, senior Lawona Davis registered 17 points and four assists. Junior forward Sherida Triggs scored 15 points and hauled in 13 rebounds in Sunday's win. Five Lady Monarchs scored in double figures. Joining Triggs was senior Paula Muxiri who tied her career high with 14 points. T.J. Jordan added 10 and Shahida Williams scored 12 points. With William and Mary leading, 11-10 with 13:03 remaining T.J. Jordan hit a trey to make it 13-11 and ODU then went on a 27-11 run the rest of the first half. Shantel Wilson hauled down nine rebounds, one shy of her career high, and Tish Lyons brought down seven and scored eight points.
About James Madison: The Dukes are attempting to hold on to their second place standing. A JMU win against the Lady Monarchs will clinch the No. 2 seed at the 2006 CAA Championships, while a loss has James Madison looking to the Hofstra-Delaware match-up for seeding ramifications. James Madison picked up their 20th season win with a victory over Northeastern last Friday, before improving its record again on Sunday with a win over Georgia State. The Dukes are the 11th JMU team to reach the 20-win mark, and the last team to win 20 games was the 2000-01 squad. With the win over the Lady Panthers, the Dukes extended their unbeaten streak to 12-0 during home contests. The home streak is the Dukes' longest since JMU won 12 consecutive home games in 1990-91. On the stat sheet, James Madison has used the same starting line-up in all 26 games led by CAA Player of the Week junior center Meredith Alexis with 16.4 points and 11.2 rebounds. Alexis, who is second in the CAA in both scoring and rebounding, is one of four starters to be averaging double digits for the Dukes. Following Alexis is sophomore guard Tamera Young with 15.8 points and 9.9 boards per outing and junior guard Lesley Dickinson with 13.1 points per game. Junior guard/forward Shirley McCall is also adding in 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
The Series With James Madison: The Lady Monarchs have face no other opponent as many times as they have the Dukes. Thursday's game will represent the 60th meeting between Old Dominion and James Madison with the Lady Monarchs owning a 46-13 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 six meetings with the Dukes' last victory coming in overtime on February 9, 2003, 98-95.
Last Time Vs. James Madison: 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 back on January 22 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Old Dominion won its sixth straight game and moved above .500 for the first time this season. 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, coming off a career-high 22 point performance the previous game against George Mason, performed her second straight double-double, this time pouring in 16 points and 11 rebounds. Four Dukes were in double figures with Meredith Alexis leading the way with 16 points and a team-high nine boards. Tamera Young who fouled out with 1:32 left in the game, had 15 points and Shirley McCall added in 12. Seven lead changes ensued in the opening minutes of the game and with the score knotted at 16-16, the Lady Monarchs made their first run. Outscoring the Dukes 12-2, Old Dominion took hold of its first double-digit lead with a 28-18 edge with 9:14 left in the half. The Lady Monarchs double figure lead quickly dissipated though, as over the next three minutes James Madison would pull to within three. The Dukes scored seven unanswered points, including five by Young, to close the gap to 28-25 with 4:05 on the clock. After trading buckets, Alexis converted the traditional three-point play as Old Dominion was holding on to a two-point lead, 32-30, with 3:22 remaining until the half. Old Dominion responded with another run. The Lady Monarchs scored seven straight points to bump its advantage to nine, 39-30, with 1:16 remaining in the half and ended the first stanza up 39-34. Within the first two minutes of the second-half, Old Dominion reclaimed its nine point lead and proceeded to lead by as many as 13. Triggs hit the second free throw of a two shot award to give the Lady Monarchs its largest lead, 53-40, with 12:37 to go. Up 61-51 with 7:11 left in the game, James Madison managed to erase another double figure deficit. Young and Dickinson both connected twice at the line and a drive to the basket by Alexis had the Dukes trailing by only four, 61-57. However, a fast-break by sophomore Shahida Williams and a lay-up by fellow classmate T.J. Jordan quickly put Old Dominion ahead by eight with four minutes left. The Dukes would get no closer than six in the game's final minutes.About Georgia State: The Lady Panthers currently hold a 8-17 overall mark and 3-13 CAA record heading into the final week of the regular season. Georgia State will host Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday before welcoming the Lady Monarchs to GSU Arena for their first ever meeting in the building. The Lady Panthers have dropped five of their last six games with the lone win in that span coming on February 19th at UNC-Wilmington with a 54-47 victory. Junior guard Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen is the lone Lady Panthers averaging double figures averaging 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Freshman Marcquitta Head head leads Georgia State in the rebounding department with 7.0 boards per contest.
The Series With Georgia State: Saturday's game against the Lady Panthers will only be the second meeting in the all-time series. Georgia State, who joined the CAA this season along with Northeastern, fell its first meeting with the Lady Monarchs 89-50 back on February 12th at the Constant Center.
Last Time Vs. Georgia State: Five players scored in double figures led by 16 points by sophomore T.J. Jordan as the Old Dominion women's basketball team cruised to its 12th straight victory with an 89-50 over Georgia State back on February 12th at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. It was the first meeting ever between the two teams. The game was never in doubt as the Lady Monarchs held the Lady Panthers scoreless for the contests' first seven and half minutes. Old Dominion opened the game on a 16-0 run and never looked back. Brittany Hollins finally got Georgia State on the scoreboard with two straight buckets at the 12:23 mark. A short time later a Marquitta Head lay-up cut the Lady Panther deficit to 10 at 16-6, but Georgia State would get no closer. The Lady Monarchs enjoyed a 44-24 halftime lead. Jordan scored nine points in the first opening stanza which included going 3-of-4 from downtown. In the second half, Old Dominion outscored Georgia State, 45-26, and led by as many as 40 late in the stanza. Joining Jordan in double figures were junior Paula Muxiri with a career tying 14 points, senior Lawona Davis with 13, junior Shantel Wilson with a career-high 12, and junior Sherida Triggs with 11. All of Triggs' 11 points came in the second half of action. Old Dominion shot 55.6 percent from the field, the third time in the last four games the Lady Monarchs have shot over 50 percent from the floor. The Lady Panthers' Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen entered the game averaging 17.9 points against CAA competition, good enough to rank second among the league players. However against the Lady Monarchs she was held scoreless in the first half and collected just second points total. Keisha Monroe was the lone Lady Panther in double digits tallying a career-high 12 points. Old Dominion controlled the battle of the board 38-26 with Triggs and sophomore Shahida Williams each collected seven. Georgia State's Head posted a game-high seven rebounds.
Locked Up The Top Spot: With last Friday's 94-66 win over Virginia Commonwealth, the Lady Monarchs clinched the top seed for the upcoming CAA Women's Basketball Tournament to be held next weekend at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. It will mark the 11th time Old Dominion has been the top seed since joining the CAA in 1991-92.