March 14, 2008
NEWARK, Del. The Old Dominion women's basketball team opened up Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play on Friday evening by picking up an 82-65 quarterfinal victory over eighth-seeded UNC-Wilmington. The top-seeded Lady Monarchs, going after their 17th consecutive league title, will play No. 5 Towson on Saturday, March 15th at 2:30 p.m. The game will be aired on CN8 and picked up by Cox 11 in the Hampton Roads area.
The Lady Monarchs improved to 27-4 overall as head coach Wendy Larry improved her mark at her alma mater to 499-164 in her 21 seasons. UNC-Wilmington meanwhile ends the 2007-08 season at 17-14.
Senior Shahida Williams (Newark, N.J.) and junior Tiffany Green (Chesapeake, Va.) paced the Lady Monarchs each with double-doubles. Green captured her team-leading fifth double-double of the year and 16th of her career with a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. Additionally, Green swatted away five of the Seahawks shots, tying her season-high for the third time this season. Williams performed her second double figure points and rebound game of the season and fourth of her career with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Williams was also one shy of her career mark in steals with four thefts on the evening.
Williams and Green were also joined by sophomore Jessica Canady (Williamsburg, Va.) and senior T.J. Jordan (Portsmouth, Va.) with double figures in the scoring column. Canady added in 14 points, while Jordan contributed 12 in the victory. Jordan connected on two more three-pointers bringing her CAA and ODU leading three-point record to 315.
Greta Luksyte led the Seahawks with 16 points, followed by CAA Rookie of the Year Brittany Blackwell with 13, and Shade Smith adding in 11.
Old Dominion never trailed in the contest and raced out to a 17-4 advantage halfway through the opening stanza. With the aggressive Old Dominion defense, the Seahawks shot as low as six percent in the first half and did not hit their first field goal until eight and half minutes into the contest. UNC-Wilmington was held to just that one field goal until the 5:38 mark. The Seahawks went just 5-of-23 from the field in the first half (21.7 percent), but shot 10-of-12 from the line (83 percent). Old Dominion went on to lead 27-21 at the break and had held as much as a 21 point edge.
The Lady Monarchs had a 71-51 lead with 6:06 remaining in the game when UNC-Wilmington went on a 10-0 run closing to within 10 of the Old Dominion advantage. However, Old Dominion would not allow the Seahawks a chance of ruining its CAA Tournament run by following with 7-0 run of its own to put the game out of reach.
The victory improved Old Dominion to 48-0 in the CAA Tournament.