Feb. 12, 2012
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WILMINGTON, N.C. - Shakeva Richards had a team-high 13 points and Old Dominion University women's basketball stopped UNCW down the stretch to secure a 59-57 win in Wilmington Sunday afternoon.
JoNiquia Guilford hit a layup to put ODU up four but Alisha Andrews followed with a layup, but ODU slammed the door the rest of the way.
With six seconds left, Richards missed a foul shot, but Jackie Cooked deflected the outlet pass enough where UNCW had to deliver a last ditch half court shot that sailed wide left.
After the Seahawks took their first lead of the game with nine minutes to play on a layup from Karneisha Garrett, Richards hit a three to spark a 9-2 ODU run to give the Lady Monarchs a 55-48 lead. Richards had seven of those points while Lewis had two points
Richards led ODU on a 9-2 run, scoring seven points as Lewis added a jumper, to push the ODU lead to 55-48.
The Seahawks tied the score with a 9-2 spurt coming out of the second half, as Ayoola Weaver had four points and Alisha Andrews hit a three while Tawanna Lee hit two foul shots to make the score 36-36.
The Lady Monarchs came out with a smothering defense to start, holding UNCW scoreless for the first five minutes, as the Seahawks started the game 0-for-7 from the floor with three turnovers.
ODU turned their defense into offense starting the game on a 10-2 run. Lewis and Shakeva Richards had four points for ODU in the start.
UNCW closed the gap to 15-9 on a jumper from Tawanna Lee but the Lady Monarchs pushed the lead up to 10 to 25-15. Myeisha Hall added four points while Ashley Betz-White nailed a 12-foot jumper to give ODU the 10-point lead.
Jessica Freeman hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 27-21 but ODU countered as Tiffany Minor made a diving steal and passed to Lewis for a layup and Minor hit a three to push the lead back to nine.
Richards was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and pulled down a career-best six rebounds while Lewis added 11 points and seven boards. Mairi Buchan, Myeisha Hall and Guilford all chipped in with seven points.
Andrews led UNCW with 20 points while Freeman added nine, all in the first half.
Old Dominion returns home on Thursday when they host Drexel at 7 p.m.