Jan. 24, 2007
Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
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 on to www.odusports.com for livestats of Thursday's game.
ABOUT OLD DOMINION: The Old Dominion women's basketball team extended its win streak to seven as they picked up road wins at George Mason and Drexel last week. On Thursday, the Lady Monarchs picked up their 40th straight win over the Patriots with a 69-49 win. George Mason is one of five CAA teams that have yet to hand Old Dominion a loss. Junior guard T.J. Jordan scored 17 of her game-high 19 points in the opening-half connecting on five three-pointers. Junior Tay Ransburgalso hauled in six of her game-high eight boards in the opening stanza. Sherida Triggs poured in 14, with 10 of those points coming in the second half. Ransburg netted 10 and was just two boards shy of her second straight double-double.The Patriots were held to 29.6 from the field, the second lowest field goal percentage by an ODU opponent in 2006-07. The game also marked the fourth time the Lady Monarchs held an opponent to under 50 points in a game this season. On Sunday, Old Dominion closed out the season series with Drexel by handing the Dragons an 83-51 loss. The 83 points scored by the Lady Monarchs were the most netted by the team this season. The team also collected a season-high 22 steals. Additionally, the Dragons turned the ball over 30 times for the second time against the Lady Monarchs this season, which resulted in 46 Old Dominion points. The game opened with the Lady Monarchs taking an 11-0 run and never looking back. The Lady Monarchs held as much as a 21-point lead late in the first half en-route to a 37-18 advantage. Three Lady Monarchs were in double figures led by junior T.J. Jordan with 18 points. Senior Tish Lyons poured in 13 from off the bench, while Ransburg dropped in 12. Senior Sherida Triggs led Old Dominion on the boards with seven.
ABOUT VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH: The Virginia Commonwealth Rams put their three-game win streak on the line as they enter the Constant Center on Thursday sporting a 10-7 overall mark and 3-4 CAA record. VCU has rattled off home wins over UNC-Wilmington (56-55) and Northeastern (80-75) as well an 75-64 overtime victory at Georgia State last Sunday. Junior forward Krystal Vaughn leads the Rams with 16.6 points per game and a team second-best 7.5 rebounds per game. She is fifth in the league in scoring. Chesapeake, Virginia native, sophomore center Quanitra Hollingsworth, is averaging 13.3 points and a team-best 8.7 boards per game. Hollingsworth is fifth in the conference in rebounding. Last time against the Lady Monarchs, the Ram duo netted 43 of VCU's 70 points.
SERIES WITH VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH: The Lady Monarchs hold a 49-8 record in the all-time series with the Rams with Old Dominion winning the last seven outings and 26 of the last 27. The ODU and VCU rivalry dates back to the 1969-70 season where the two teams squared off against each other each season until 1979. The rivalry renewed when VCU joined ODU in the Sun Belt Conference and continued when the Rams joined the CAA for the 1995-96 season. More recently, the Rams snapped a 35-game CAA win streak back on February 6th, 2003 at the Siegel Center. Old Dominion fell, 56-67, in their first CAA loss in nearly two years. Since then, the Lady Monarchs have rattled off seven straight wins over Virginia Commonwealth, including an 81-70 win back on January 4th in the first meeting of this season.
LAST TIME VS. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH: The Old Dominion women's basketball team started off the CAA schedule with a 81-70 victory over the Virginia Commonwealth Rams at the Siegel Center on January 4th. The win marked the 16th consecutive CAA opening victory for the Lady Monarchs since joining the league in the 1991-92 season. The victory also marked the Lady Monarchs first road win of the season. At the half, the Lady Monarchs enjoyed a 40-28 lead. Ahead, 29-24 with 3:45 remaining, T.J. Jordan hit back-to-back three's to give Old Dominion its first double figure lead of the game. Jordan collected 18 of her season-high 25 points in the first half all on three pointers. The junior guard took six in the first half alone en-route to a seven total. The Rams were held to just one field goals over the half's final five minutes. The Rams scored the second half's first six points. Quanitra Hollingsworth converted the traditional three-point play to cut the VCU deficit to six, 40-34, but that would be the closed Virginia Commonwealth would get. Jordan finished the night as one of three Lady Monarchs in double figures. Her seven three-pointers tied a career mark, which she also achieved at Delaware (2/11/05) and at George Mason (2/10/06). Senior Tish Lyons (Newport News, Va.) added a season-high 14 points and dished out a career record six assists. Sophomore Tiffany Green added in 10. The Rams were led by Hollingsworth with 22 points and nine rebounds. Krystal Vaughn netted 21 and grabbed nine boards as well in the loss. The Old Dominion bench outscored the VCU bench, 32-7.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST:
ODU - VCU
69.0 - Scoring - 65.5
.428 - Field Goal Percentage - .410
.326 - 3PT Field Goal Percentage - .283
.639 - Free Throw Percentage - .649
40.6 - Rebounds Per Game - 39.9
15.1 - Assists Per Game- 14.4
20.5 - Turnovers Per Game - 18.9
10.6 - Steals Per Game - 7.5
4.4 - Blocks Per Game - 3.0
THE MOST WE'VE SCORED: The 83 points collected in Sunday's 83-51 victory at Drexel were the most points scored by the Lady Monarch squad this season. That point total surpasses the previous high of 81 points collected by the Lady Monarchs in its CAA opening win at Virginia Commonwealth back on January 4th.
FROM THE LINE: Old Dominion, who struggled early this season from the line, has definately shown signs of improvement. The Lady Monarchs had their best game from the free throw line this season in the CAA home opener against Drexel on Janury 7th. The Lady Monarchs got to the line 25 times, making 19 shots against the Dragons. They shot 84.6 in the second half, hitting 11-of-13 from the charity stripe and a season-high 76.0 percent for the game. Three Lady Monarchs went perfect at the line, including junior T.J. Jordan who went a perfect 5-of-5. Old Dominion also had a hot hand at the free throw line in the second half of the January 14th contest against Hofstra. In that half, the Lady Monarchs shot 91.7 percent hitting 11-of-12 from the stripe. Old Dominion also shot well the line in the second meeting Drexel just last Sunday. The Lady Monarchs shot 71.4 percent.
FROM DOWNTOWN: Junior guard T.J. Jordan is second in the country in three-point field goals attempted with 3.4 per game and is 79th in three-point field goal percentage at .358. She has 877 career points which puts on track to reach 1,000 points in about eight games (or so).
TALE OF THE TURNOVER: Old Dominion is working on cutting down on its turnovers, but in the season series against Drexel, the Lady Monarchs forced the turnovers. The Dragons committed 30 miscues leading to 26 Lady Monarch points in the 70-45 first meeting in Norfolk and then committed another 30 against ODU in the 83-51 meeting in Philadelphia resutling in 46 Lady Monarch points. The 30 turnovers are the most committed by a Lady Monarch opponent this season. ODU followed the first Dragon meeting by collecting 31 points off of 25 Georgia State miscues the following game.
LOOKING AT THE BENCH: Since beginning CAA action on January 4th, the Lady Monarch bench as been producing three times the amount as the opponent bench. Through six conference games, ODU's bench has collected 127 points as compared to their opponent's 49. Against Georgia State, ODU outscored the Lady Panther bench, 32-6, and outscored Hofstra's bench 24-4.
UP NEXT: The Lady Monarchs meet up with William & Mary in their first of two contests on Sunday, January 28th at 2:00 p.m. Following Sunday's meeting with the Tribe, Old Dominion hits the road again for contests at James Madison, Hofstra, and Northeastern.