Nov. 21, 2006
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's basketball team got its first win of the 2006-07 season by handing former CAA rival East Carolina a 77-66 loss at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Tuesday night.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Lady Monarchs as they head into Saturday's game with Delaware State sporting a 1-2 record. East Carolina, in their first appearance against Old Dominion since switching from the CAA to Conference USA, fell to 1-3 overall.
Junior T.J. Jordan (Portsmouth, Va.) led the team in scoring for the third straight game with 16 points, connecting on 4-of-7 from the field, 3-of-6 from three-point range, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Junior Tay Ransburg (Kansas City, Mo.) netted 14, while senior Sherida Triggs (Norcross, Ga.) added 11 with 10 of those points coming in the first half.
East Carolina also saw three in double figures with Cherie Mills leading the way with 17 points. Jasmine Young collected 16 points, while LaCoya Terry dropped in 13.
In a rare occurance, the opposition outrebounded Old Dominion. The Pirates held a 45-33 advantage on the boards, which included holding the Lady Monarchs to just seven offensive rebounds. Ransburg led the squad on the glass with six rebounds. East Carolina saw Mills and Jessica Slack record nine.
Old Dominion had a 39-27 lead at the half and led by as many as 18 in the opening stanza. Sophomore Jen Nuzzo (Newport News, Va.) came off the bench to hit one of her two treys of the evening to give the Lady Monarchs a 12-9 edge and the lead for good at the 14:31 mark.
The Lady Monarchs managed to hold off a second half comeback by the Pirates. With Old Dominion leading 46-33 and enjoying a 13-point edge, East Carolina used a 12-2 run to pull within three with 9:56 left in the game. Ahead 48-45, Old Dominion turned the table and took a run of its own. Outscoring the Pirates 13-2 sparked by nine straight points by Jordan, the Lady Monarchs push their lead to 14, 61-47, with 5:50 left. During the run, Jordan hit two three's and was fouled on an attempt where she went to the line to hit all three free throw attempts. Additionally, senior Shantel Wilson (Washington, D.C.) went perfect from the line as well.
The Pirates did not go away and still had another run left in them. Ransburg helped the Lady Monarchs to their largest lead of the half on a jumper to give ODU a 15-point advantage, 68-53, with just 2:43 remaining in the game. Over the next minute and a half, East Carolina outscored Old Dominion 10-2, making it a seven-point ball game. The Pirates would only score three more points in the game and would foul the Lady Monarchs to close out the game. While Mills only connected on one of a three-shot award from the line and Slack put in a lay-up, the Lady Monarchs went 7-of-10 from the stripe to hold on to the win.
The victory was head coach Wendy Larry's 498th of her career. The Lady Monarchs will look to bring her one step closer to 500 on Saturday when they host Delaware State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. It will mark the first meeting between the Lady Monarchs and Hornets.