Dec. 21, 2012
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Old Dominion University women’s basketball team took third place on Friday afternoon in the World Vision Classic at the Cox Pavilion with a 75-46 defeat of Alabama A&M. ODU finishes the tournament with a record of 2-1.
Senior Jackie Cook scored a career-high 25 points and surpassed the 800-point mark in her ODU career to power the Lady Monarchs, who scored 43 points off 34 Alabama A&M turnovers. Cook was named to the World Vision Classic All-Tournament team after scoring 58 points in the three-day tournament for an average of 19.3 points per contest.
ODU raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first 1:45 of the game forcing a quick timeout by Alabama A&M (1-8) who was never able to recover as the Lady Monarchs held a 41-22 advantage at the half.
The 34 turnovers by the Lady Bulldogs are tied for the most by an ODU opponent this season (USC Upstate on Nov. 13) while the Lady Monarchs committed a season-low nine turnovers in the ballgame. Eight of ODU’s 10 opponents this season have now turned the ball over 20 times or more.
A total of 12 ODU players saw action and 10 of them scored as the Lady Monarchs distributed the ball well offensively with 22 assists. Sophomore Ashley Betz-White put in 10 points, five assists and four steals while sophomore Shae Kelley added nine points and six rebounds to go along with four steals and two assists.
ODU shot 44.3 percent from the field (31-for-70) while Alabama A&M shot just 30.8% (16-for-52). The Lady Monarchs doubled up the Lady Bulldogs in points in the paint, 48-24, while ODU held the advantage in points off turnovers (43-4), fast break points (18-0) and bench points (21-9). Alabama A&M outrebounded Old Dominion, 49-31.
NaDra Robertson just missed a double-double for Alabama A&M with 10 points and nine rebounds while Jasmine Sanders added 12 points and three rebounds and Alyssa Strickland gathered 11 points and two rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs.
Old Dominion is off for over a week before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 against South Carolina State at 4 p.m. in the Ted Constant Convocation Center as part of doubleheader with the men’s team who takes on Fairfield at 7 p.m.
Follow Old Dominion women’s basketball on Twitter at twitter.com/ODUWBB and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/LadyMonarchsWBB.