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Women's Basketball Faces Towson Thursday Night

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Feb. 14, 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: Livestats of Thursday's game are available at www.odusports.com.

ABOUT OLD DOMINION: Old Dominion moved into second place in the league race as they earned wins over Northeastern and Delaware. On Thursday, the Lady Monarchs posted a 89-75 victory over over the Huskies t in their first ever trip to Solomon Court in Boston, Massachusetts. Junior guard T.J. Jordan netted a career-high 34 points, surpassing her previous high of 28 captured at Delaware on February 11, 2005. It was the most points since Shareese Grant (2001-2005) exploded for 35 points in the 2005 CAA Tournament final, an overtime victory over Delaware. Jordan also set a new school and CAA record for three's made with 10. Her 10 treys are also the most by a Division I women's player this season. The 89 points scored by Old Dominion were also the most netted this season by the team. On Sunday, the Lady Monarchs defeated 2007 CAA Tournament host Delaware by a 63-47 score . The 47 points were the fewest the Blue Hens have scored all season Senior Sherida Triggs collected her second double-double of the year and 11th of her career with a team-high 12 points and 11 rebounds. Triggs was one of four Lady Monarchs in double figures along with 11 from T.J. Jordan, who was battling a stomach bug, and 10 from both Tiffany Green and Tay Ransburg. Old Dominion had a balanced attack as they outscored the Delaware bench, 21-4. The Lady Monarchs had their best performance from the line all season shooting 91.7 percent (11-of-12) from the stripe. ODU is led by Jordan, who is averaging 15.3 points per game to rank sixth in the CAA in scoring. Sophomore Tiffany Green leads the rebounding corps with 6.4 boards per game, ranking 20th in the league.

ABOUT TOWSON: The Towson Tigers enter Thursday's match-up with a 16-7 overall and 7-6 CAA mark and are coming off an 89-43 loss at Georgia State on Sunday. With 16 wins this season, Towson is getting nearer to its school record for wins in a season, getting closer to the 1983-84 Tiger team's record of 19-8. The Tigers are led by freshman guard Shanae Baker-Brice, who is seventh in the CAA in scoring at 14.9 points per game. Two other Tigers are averaging double figures in junior transfer Holly Mahan (10.5 ppg) and senior forward Kelly Robinson (10.0 ppg). Mahan also leads Towson on the boards grabbing 7.5 rebounds per game to place in 11th in the CAA in the category.

SERIES WITH TOWSON: The Tigers remain one of five CAA teams that have yet to defeat the Lady Monarchs. Old Dominion holds an 0-0 record all-time since the two teams became conference rivals when Towson joined the league in the 2001-02 season. The closest game between these two teams occurred on February 5, 2004 as the Lady Monarchs escaped the Towson Center with a 68-64 victory. Last season, the Lady Monarchs captured a 69-56 win at the Towson Center. Overall, Old Dominion has averaged 22.2 point victories and 74.6 points per game against the Tigers.

LAST TIME VS. TOWSON: The Old Dominion women's basketball team captured a 69-56 victory over Towson University back on January 29th, 2006 at the Towson Center in the lone regular season match-up between the two teams. Sherida Triggs and senior Lawona Davis each tallied a team-high 15 points. The Tigers' Tierra Jackson led all scorers with 22 points going 10-of-16 from the field along with eight rebounds. Old Dominion enjoyed a 37-28 lead at the intermission but needed to thwart a second half rally by the Tigers. The Lady Monarchs' nine point half-time edge was whittled to four with 6:42 to play. However, Old Dominion used a quick 11-0 run from which Towson could not recover from and went on to outscore the Tigers 21-12 over the final 5:40 of the game. The Tigers were the first CAA team to outrebound the Lady Monarchs last season, and one of five, holding a slight 32-31 advantage on the boards.Old Dominion did manage one of their best shooting performances from the floor this season. The Lady Monarchs connected on 26-of-49 to end the afternoon shooting 53.1 percent.

SERIES WITH TOWSON:
ODU - TU
69.2 - Scoring - 63.3
.418 - Field Goal Percentage - .388
.326 - 3PT Field Goal Percentage - .249
.656 - Free Throw Percentage - .269
42.6 - Rebounds Per Game - 36.9
15.3 - Assists Per Game- 14.1
20.0 - Turnovers Per Game - 17.0
10.0 - Steals Per Game - 13.3
4.6 - Blocks Per Game - 3.3

DOWNING DELAWARE:Old Dominion defeated Delaware last Thursday to move into second place in the CAA standings. Delaware, who entered the game winners in 10 of their last 11, had a four-game win streak snapped.. The 47 points were the fewest the Blue Hens have scored all season and the fewest since netting only 41 in a 41-55 setback at UNC-Wilmington back on January 6th. Additionally it was Delaware's largest loss since a 27-point setback at James Madison, 57-84, back on February 1, 2004. The Fightin' Blue Hens shot a season-low 24.6 percent from the field (14-of-57), went just 2-for-13 from the three-point line. Additionally, Old Dominion outscored the Delaware bench, 21-4.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL: The stomach bug has managed to get a hold of two members of the Old Dominion women's basketball team. Sophomore Jazzmin Walters missed last Thursday's game against Northeaster. With Walters' sickness, head coach Wendy Larry used a new line-up for the first time in 12 games. Larry used the line-up of Shahida Williams, Sherida Triggs, Tiffany Green, Tish Lyons, and T.J. Jordan which was last used in a Dec. 17th loss to Charlotte. The sickness then traveled to T.J. Jordan for last Sunday's showdown with Delaware. Jordan started at the point and posted 11 points and two assists despite feeling under the weather.

BEYOND THE ARC: Junior guard T.J. Jordan netted a career-high 34 points, last Thursday at Northeastern. She surpassed her previous high of 28 captured at Delaware on February 11, 2005. It was the most points since Shareese Grant (2001-2005) exploded for 35 points in the 2005 CAA Tournament final, an overtime victory over Delaware. Jordan also set a new school and CAA record for three's made with 10 and set a new school mark for three's attemped with 22. The previous mark was held by Aubrey Eblin when she went 9-of-16 against UNC-Wilmington on Feb. 17, 1998. Her 10 three-pointers are also the most made by a Division I women's player this season.

DISH IT TO ME: Sophomore Jazzmin Walters continues to grow in her role as the Lady Monarchs starting point guard. The second year Lady Monarch dished out eight assists, tying both her career and season-high while committing only one turnover against Virginia Commonwealth on January 25th. With four dishes against Hofstra on February 4the, Walters cracked the top 10 sophomore assists leaders list. She is currently in 10th place with 80 assists in her second year in the ODU uniform. She needs eight more to move past Mery Andrade (1995-96) into ninth place.

SWISH: It looked like the Lady Monarchs had their best free throw performance last Thursday at Northeastern as they went 14-of-16 to finish the night at a 87.5 percent clip. Senior Sherida Triggs led the way going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe as one of five Lady Monarchs to go perfect from the line. However, that stat didn't last very long as the Lady Monarchs reset it the following game in a Feb. 11th victory over Delaware. The Lady Monarchs went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe to shoot a season-high 91.7 percent. Both Triggs and sophomore Tiffany Green went a perfect 4-of-4. Triggs has now hit her last 10 free throws in contests at Hofstra, Northeastern, and at home against Delaware.

THE STARTING FIVE: 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 twenty three games, 10 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 been used the most going 10-2 with wins over Rutgers, VCU, Drexel, Georgia State, Hofstra, George Mason, and William & Mary.

UP NEXT: Old Dominion has just five games left on the slate following Thursday's match-up with Towson. The Lady Monarchs will travel to William & Mary on Sunday, Feberuary 18th and then return home for its final home games of the 2006-07 season. Old Dominion hosts George Mason on Thursday, February 22nd and James Madison on Sunday, February 25th.