Feb. 9, 2012
NEWARK, Del. - Old Dominion University women's basketball fought back from a 23-point second deficit to cut the lead to eight but fell short at No. 12 Delaware 76-63 Thursday night. A near sellout crowd of 4,111 was in attendance at the Bob Carpenter Center
Myeisha Hall and JoNiquia Guilford sparked ODU on a 14-2 run, as Hall dropped 11-straight points for ODU to cut the lead down to nine.
Delaware pushed the lead back to 11 with a jumper from Elena Delle Donne, but Jackie Cook connected on a three-point play to cut the lead to eight at 67-59 with 2:36 to play.
Trumae Lucas added two free throws to make the UD lead 69-59 as Delaware made five more free throws to pull out the win.
ODU fired up more shots than the Blue Hens (71-69) and outrebounded Delaware in the second half 23-17.
Delaware jumped out early in the second half pushing the lead to 55-32 but ODU followed with a 16-2 run as Guilford had a back court steal and a layup followed by a jumper while Myeisha Hall followed with a steal and layup and two-straight three-pointers to cut the lead to 11. Hall added a bucket and foul shot as she scored 11-straight for ODU.
Hall hit another three to cut the lead to eight but Lauren Carra and Delle Donne added jumpers to push the lead back to 11.
Ashley Betz-White got ODU the first bucket of the second half but Delaware followed with 10-straight points to take a 44-26 lead.
Delaware grabbed an 8-5 lead to start the game but a Jackie Cook layup cut the score to one at 8-7. The Blue Hens followed with a 10-2 run to take a, 18-9 lead.
The Lady Monarchs cut the lead down to six on a three-pointer from Shakeva Richards to make the score 20-14.
The Blue Hens pushed the lead to 10 at 28-18 with a layup from Lauren Carra but got four quick points from Cook and Mairi Buchan to cut the lead to 28-22.
Akema Richards gave UD a 10-point halftime lead hitting a layup with 31 seconds remaining in the half.
The Lady Monarchs held Delaware to just 31 percent shooting in the first half.
Tia Lewis led the Lady Monarchs with 15 points and nine rebounds while Jackie Cook added 11 points and eight boards. With her 15 points, Lewis passed T.J. Jordan for 13th on ODU's all-time scoring list. Myeisha Hall came off the bench to score 14 points, all in the second half.
ODU also had more steals and assists than the Blue Hens. JoNiquia Guilford led ODU with five assists while Betz-White added three steals.
Delle Donne led UD with a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds while Carra added 18 points while Danielle Parker chipped in 13.
The Lady Monarchs wrap up their three-game road trip on Sunday when they travel to UNCW at 2 p.m.