Dec. 21, 2006
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RADIO: For the 16th-straight season ESPN Radio (1310 am - Norfolk, Va.) will be broadcasting all the Lady Monarch contests. Thirteen-time sportscaster of the Year Tony Mercurio will call all the action. Former Lady Monarch and ODU Hall of Fame inductee, Adrienne Goodson and former assistant coach Susan Montgomery will join Mercurio and add color commentary at all home games at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. A monthly fee of $6.95 through the College Pass program, which also provides the audio and video broadcasts of over 100 colleges and universities, will allow fans to listen to the broadcast online at www.odusports.com.
LIVESTATS: Log onto www.odusports.com for livestats of Friday's game.
TELEVISION: Friday's game will be aired nationally on ESPNU with Charlene Curtins and Beth Mowins calling all the action.
ABOUT OLD DOMINION: Old Dominion returns home to host #5 Tennessee, the third Top 25 and second Top Five team it will face this season. The Lady Monarchs return home after a two-game road trip that saw ODU fall 64-68 to Charlotte and pick up a 71-86 loss to Middle Tennessee, a team that is receiving votes in both major polls and knocked off No. 8 Georgia in Athens. The game against Middle Tennessee was a lot closer than the score indicated as the game endured 10 ties and 20 lead changes. The Lady Monarchs were led by starting point guard Jazzmin Walters with a career-high 13 points along with a career-high four steals and three assists. Both juniors Shahida Williams and T.J. Jordan added in 12. The Lady Monarchs had one of its best performance from the field and the line against the Blue Raiders. Old Dominion ended the evening hitting 48.1 percent from the floor and 72.2 from the charity stripe.
ABOUT TENNESSEE: The Lady Vols enter Friday's contest with a 10-1 overall record and winners of four straight. Their lone set back of the season with a 57-70 loss at North Carolina back on December 3rd. Like the Lady Monarchs, Tennessee will be playing in its third game this week and are coming off a 66-51 victory at home over West Virginia on Wednesday. Tennessee is led by sophomore Candace Parker at 18.8 points per game and a team-leading 8.8 rebounds per game. Two other Lady Vols are averaging double figures including Sidney Spencer (12.5 ppg) and Alexis Hornbuckle (10.1 ppg).
SERIES WITH TENNESSEE: Old Dominion has only faced CAA rival James Madison more times than it has the Tennessee Lady Vols. Friday's meeting will mark the 40th meeting between the two teams with the Lady Vols holding a 30-9 advantage in the all-time series sharing an annual game each season since the 1976-77 season. Old Dominion is looking for its first win over Tennessee in its last ten attempts. The last Lady Monarch win over the Lady Vols came in 1997 with an 83-72 regular season victory at the ODU Fieldhouse. Later that season in the NCAA Championship game, the roles were reversed as Tennessee walked away with the title. Old Dominion has not won in Knoxville since 1982 when the Lady Monarchs used overtime for a 78-72 win and has not won at home since the 1997 regular season win.
LAST TIME VS. TENNESSEE: Shanna Zolman scored 23 points and Nicky Anosike added 17 to lead top-ranked Tennessee to an 83-67 win over Old Dominion on January 2nd, 2006. The Lady Vols led nearly the entire game, but Old Dominion made them work for their 10th straight victory in the series. The Lady Monarchs, coming off an 88-80 overtime loss to fifth-ranked North Carolina last week, were scrappy and aggressive, but couldn't do enough defensively despite shooting 46 percent (28-of-61). Tennessee shot 52 percent (26-of-50) from the floor and went 24-of-28 from the foul line. Old Dominion had only seven chances at the line and made six. Zolman rallied from scoring five points and making one of seven shots from the floor in Tennessee's 62-51 win at then-No. 12 Notre Dame on New Year's Eve. The senior from Syracuse, Ind., was playing in front of hundreds of hometown fans.Against Old Dominion, she was 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Alexis Hornbuckle added 14 points and Candace Parker had 10. The Lady Monarchs were led by T.J. Jordan with 17 points. She was 0-of-13 shooting in last year's game as a freshman. Sherida Triggs added 16 points and Shahida Williams had 10 for Old Dominion, which has the toughest schedule in the country according to the latest RPI. The Lady Vols were ahead by 18 early in the second half when Old Dominion rallied with a 16-6 run. Jordan had consecutive 3s during the spurt, and Lawona Davis scored four points to cut it to 61-53. Tennessee stretched it to 12, but Old Dominion trimmed it in half after two baskets by Paula Muxiri and a pair of free throws by Triggs. That was as close as the Lady Monarchs would get as Zolman hit a 3 and then sank two foul shots to restore the double-digit lead with 6:18 left. Old Dominion grabbed the lead early but could not extend it beyond three points. After Triggs' putback with 8:32 left that put the Lady Monarchs ahead 23-21, the Lady Vols regained the lead with an 18-4 run started by Hornbuckle's 3. Hornbuckle scored eight points during the spurt. Jordan ended the rally with a 3, but the Lady Vols responded with Lindsey Moss' 3-pointer and Parker's steal and breakaway layup to stretch the lead to 44-30. Parker was far ahead of the trailing defender and had a wide open look at the basket but let the ball roll off her fingers into the cylinder. Fans had been waiting for Parker to get her first collegiate dunk.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST:ODU - UT
65.6 - Scoring - 78.5
.397 - Field Goal Percentage -. 494
.288 - 3PT Field Goal Percentage - .438
.603 - Free Throw Percentage - .708
42.9 - Rebounds Per Game - 37.5
13.1. - Assists Per Game - 17.5
22.1 - Turnovers Per Game - 17.3
9.1 - Steals Per Game - 13.4
5.3 - Blocks Per Game - 5.8
THE VOLUNTEER STATE: Old Dominion will face back-to-back opponents from the Volunteer State this week. The Lady Monarchs will be in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to take on the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State and then return home to Norfolk for its annual meeting with the Lady Vols of the University of Tennessee.
THE 500 CLUB: With the 77-38 win over Chicago State on December 9th, Old Dominion head coach Wendy Larry became the 30th all-time Division I coach and 23rd active Division I coach to reach the 500-victory milestone. In 23 years as a head coach, she has compiled a 500-186 mark. Now in her 20th season at the helm of the Old Dominion program, Larry holds a 451-155 mark at her alma mater. Coach Larry just recently captured her 450th victory as the head coach at her alma mater with a 57-46 win over Delaware State on November 25.
NOTE: Larry picked up career win No. 250 vs. Tennessee on Jan. 7, 1997 in their last win over the Lady Vols. ODU won 83-72 at the ODU Fieldhouse.
THE DUNKS: Tennessee played its first and second round games of the NCAA Tournament at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in 2006 enroute to the Elite Eight. It was during their first round game vs. Army that Candace Parker collected her first dunk (and would dunk again). It was the first dunk in a women's game during NCAA Tournament action and the first time a woman dunked twice in a game.
THE STARTING LINE-UP: With the Lady Monarch roster as deep as it is in recent memory, its hard to pick just which Lady Monarch will get the starting nod. Through eight games, seven different starting combos have been used with Sherida Triggs being the only Lady Monarch to have started every single game.