Jan. 5, 2007
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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 on to www.odusports.com for livestats of Sunday's game.
ABOUT OLD DOMINION: The Old Dominion women's basketball team started off the CAA schedule Thursday night with a 81-70 victory over the Virginia Commonwealth Rams at the Siegel Center in Richmond. The win marked the 16th consecutive CAA opening victory for the Lady Monarchs since joining the league in the 1991-92 season and ODU's first road win of the season. Junior guard T.J. Jordan lit up the gym from three-pointland hitting seven treys to tie her career mark. The third year Lady Monarch ended the night with a season-high 25 points. Senior Tish Lyons added a season-high 14 points and dished out a career record six assists. Sophomore Tiffany Green added in 10. The 81 points scored by the Lady Monarchs were the highest output by the team this season. Additionally the Old Dominion bench outscored the VCU bench, 32-7.
LADY MONARCH MOMENTS:
The Lady Monarchs opened up the CAA portion of its 2006-07 schedule by traveling to Virginia Commonwealth and earning a 81-70 victory over the Rams Old Dominion is 16-0 in CAA openers since joining the league in the 1991-92 season.
The 81-70 win at Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday was the Lady Monarchs' first road win of the season. Old Dominion started the season 0-5 away from the friendly confines of the Ted Constant Convocation Center before picking up the win over the Rams.
The Lady Monarchs are 15-1 in CAA home openers as they take on Drexel in this year's CAA home opener. It will be the first time the Dragons serve as ODU's CAA home opener.
Old Dominion closed out the non-conference schedule with a 4-7 mark having taken on three ranked squads, two from the top five, and four teams receiving votes in either or both nationals polls.
In NCAA stats, junior guard T.J. Jordan ranks fifth nationally in three-pointers made averaging 3.2 per game. Junior center Tay Ransburg is 90th in blocked shots swatting away an average of 1.5 per outing.
Junior guard T.J. Jordan was on fire against Virginia Commonwealth Thursday igniting for a season-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting including 7-of-13 from three. Her seven three pointers tied her career record, two shy of the school record.
The ODU bench certainly shined in its victory over the Rams scoring 32 points as compared to seven for Virginia Commonwealth. Senior Tish Lyons poured in 14 points and also dished out a career-high six assists.
The 81 points scored by ODU was its highest output of the season.
ABOUT DREXEL: The Drexel Dragons serve as the CAA home opener for the Lady Monarchs. The Dragons are coming off a 48-43 loss to William and Mary Thursday night in a defeat that saw their two-game win streak to come a halt. Drexel enters "The Ted" with a 5-8 overall mark and 0-2 CAA record. The Dragons went 5-6 during non-conference action. Old Dominion and Drexel both met up with Penn State with the Dragons suffering a 56-74 loss at home in their 2006-07 season opener. Entering Saturday afternoon's contest, the Dragons are led by freshman forward Gabriela Marginean who has been averaging 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Junior three-point specialist Narissa Suber is the other Dragon averaging double figures, pouring in 13.6 points per game. Suber has already attempted 124 three-pointers this season hitting 29 percent from beyond the arc.
SERIES WITH DREXEL: Old Dominion holds a 10-1 record against Drexel as these two teams became annual rivals when the Dragons enter the CAA conference for the 2001-02 season. The Dragons' lone victory came up the Daskalakis Center in the 2005 regular season finale with Drexel holding on to a 71-68 victory. However, in the rematch, Old Dominion edged out Drexel, 64-63, in the CAA Tournament semifinals en-route to the Lady Monarchs' 14th straight CAA title. The Lady Monarchs hold a 5-0 record against the Dragons at the Ted Constant Convocation Center, including last season's 76-49 victory.
LAST TIME VS. DREXEL: A four-point half time deficit turned into a 27-point victory for the Lady Monarchs on February 3rd at the Ted Constant Convocation Center as Old Dominion swept the season series against Drexel with 76-49 win. It was a tale of two halves as Drexel had a 33-29 lead at halftime. The Dragons were fueled by Jackie Falson, who ignited for 11 first-half points connecting on 3-of-4 from downtown.The game opened with the Dragons taking a 12-2 within the first four minutes of the half. However, the Lady Monarchs responded by holding Drexel scoreless over a six-minute span and rattling off 12 unanswered points. Shantel Wilson drained two free throws to give Old Dominion its first lead of the game, 14-12, with 10:06 remaining in the half. Hot three-point shooting by the Dragons saw Drexel bump its lead up to six late in the first stanza and Old Dominion was not able to close the gap in the final minutes. The Lady Monarchs entered the locker room down by four, 33-29. The second half however was all Old Dominion as the Lady Monarchs outscored the Dragons, 47-16. Jackie Falson, who had 11 points in the first half, managed only one free throw to end the night with a season-high 12 points. Drexel only managed five field goals in the second half. In all four Lady Monarchs reached double figures led by Triggs with a game-high 15 points. From off the bench, junior Paula Muxiri added 13 and sophomore Shahida Williams notched 11 points. Lawona Davis also poured in 10.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST:
ODU-DU
66.8 - Scoring - 56.5
.413 - Field Goal Percentage - .347
.310 - 3PT Field Goal Percentage - .308
.619 - Free Throw Percentage - .721
41.3 - Rebounds Per Game - 34.2
13.9. - Assists Per Game - 12.7
21.8 - Turnovers Per Game - 16.1
8.9 - Steals Per Game - 7.4
CAA OPENERS: Old Dominion became 16-0 in CAA openers as they opened the conference slate at Virginia Commonwealth Thursday night. Here's how the Lady Monarchs have done in all their 16 CAA openers, four of which have come against the Rams:
91-92 at William & Mary W, 70-51
92-93 at George Mason W, 81-48
93-94 VCU W, 80-49
94-95 at VCU W, 71-54
95-96 at Richmond W, 79-36
96-97 Richmond W, 89-53
97-98 at William & Mary W, 94-53
98-99 at UNC-W W, 104-60
99-00 at UNC-W W, 84-65
00-01 at UNC-W W, 74-59
01-02 Towson W, 82-26
02-03 UNC-W W, 71-58
03-04 at William & Mary W, 75-58
04-05 at James Madison W, 70-58
05-06 at VCU W, 82-62
06-07 at VCU W, 81-70
CAA HOME OPENERS: Old Dominion is 14-1 in CAA openers including a 3-1 mark at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Here's how the Lady Monarchs have done in their last 15 CAA home openers:
91-92 James Madison W, 64-62
92-93 Richmond W, 75-51
93-94 VCU W, 80-49
94-95 James Madison W, 68-64
95-96 American W, 94-39
96-97 Richmond W, 89-53
97-98 Richmond W, 80-58
98-99 VCU W, 80-48
99-00 Richmond W, 108-67
00-01 American W, 86-41
01-02 Towson W, 82-26
02-03 UNC-W W, 71-58
03-04 Towson W, 87-34
04-05 Delaware L, 70-73
05-06 Hofstra W, 71-57
T.J. FOR THREEEE....: Junior guard T.J. Jordan tied her career mark as she took seven three-points against Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday night en-route to a season-high 25 points. Six of her treys came in the first half. She also achieved the same number at Delaware (2/11/05) and at George Mason (2/10/06). It was against the Fightin' Blue Hens she collected her career-high - 28 points.
HEAR ME ROAR: Senior Tish Lyons started the year's first eight games, but for the last four games has come off the bench. As a starter she only averaged 7.3 points and 2.8 rebounds a game but from coming off the bench beginning with the contest at Middle Tennessee State, Lyons averaged 10.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. In the CAA opener at Virginia Commonwealth, she poured in a season-high 14 points and also dished out a career-high six assists.
THE MOST WE'VE SCORED...SO FAR: The 81 points collected by the Lady Monarchs in its CAA opening win at Virginia Commonwealth was the largest scoring output since their 94-73 victory over Hofstra in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. on March 9, 2006.
ONE FOR THE ROAD: After beginning the season 0-5 away from the friendly confines of the Ted Constant Convocation Center, the Lady Monarchs earned its first road win with an 81-70 victory over Virginia Commonwealth at the Siegel Center in Richmond.
ANOTHER YEAR OLDER: Sophomore point guard Jazzmin Walters turned the big 2-0 on Saturday. She was recently featured in a column by former ODU legend Nancy Lieberman on ESPN.com.
ANOTHER YEAR OLDER: 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 eleven games, nine different starting combos have been used with Sherida Triggs being the only Lady Monarch to have started every single game. The line-up of Triggs, Tay Ransburg, Shahida Williams, T.J. Jordan, and Jazzmin Walters have started the last three games going 2-1 with wins over Rutgers and Virginia Commonwealth.
UP NEXT:The Lady Monarchs will be home in its next two games as they host Georgia State on Thursday, January 11th and Hofstra on Sunday, January 14th.