Feb. 13, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. - Senior Shadasia Green led three Lady Monarchs in double-figures with a season-high 19 points as Old Dominion held off UNC Wilmington, 68-60, in front of 4,019 fans Sunday at the Ted Constant Center.
The win puts Old Dominion (17-7, 11-2 CAA) in sole possession of second-place in the Colonial Athletic Association standings, while the Seahawks (18-6, 10-3 CAA) fall to third-place.
The Lady Monarchs tied an ODU team record, shooting 93.8 percent (15-of-16) from the free throw line. The mark matches the Old Dominion team that went 15-of-16 from the charity stripe against Western Kentucky on Jan. 19, 1989.
Junior Tia Lewis ended the contest just one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds, while senior Alena Voronina netted 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with six boards.
Martha White and Alisha Andrews each tallied 16 points to lead UNCW, while senior Brittany Blackwell recorded 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
After a first half that featured seven ties and 10 lead changes, UNCW led only once in the second period. A Kristen Hanzer lay-up on the first possession of the second half put the Seahawks up 34-33.
ODU then scored the next eight points, including four from Lewis, to go up 41-34 at the 16:55 mark. A Voronina free throw just over two minutes later put the Lady Monarchs up eight, their biggest lead of the contest.
UNC Wilmington cut the Old Dominion advantage to three on three separate occasions, but could not get over the hump. A Blackwell free throw made it 62-59 with 1:20 remaining, but a driving Lewis was fouled on the Lady Monarchs next possession and the junior hit both free throws to bump the ODU lead back to five.
After Blackwell hit one-of-two from the charity stripe yet again, Old Dominion put the game away on back-to-back fast break lay-ups from Green and senior Kquanise Byrd.
The Lady Monarchs are now 42-0 all-time against UNC Wilmington, including a 21-0 mark in Norfolk. The 42 consecutive wins is the third longest active win streak over an opponent in Division I women's basketball.
Sunday's crowd was the second largest at the "Ted" for a women's game this season and the third biggest that the ODU women have played in front of this year. Many fans wore pink in support of breast cancer awareness and cancer survivors were honored in a pre-game survivor walk.
Old Dominion next hits the road for a pair of critical CAA road games. The Lady Monarchs play at VCU Thursday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Hofstra Sunday for a 1 p.m. contest.
-ODU-