Feb. 5, 2013
FAIRFAX, Va. – The Old Dominion University women’s basketball team won their third straight game on Tuesday night with a 53-39 win at the Patriot Center over George Mason.
The Lady Monarchs forced 22 Patriot turnovers, making it the 16th time this season that an ODU opponent has turned it over 20 or more times and scored 16 points off those miscues while taking a 24-10 advantage in points in the paint.
Old Dominion (16-6, 7-3) used a balance scoring attack from senior Jackie Cook who scored 12 points and collected four rebounds and three assists along with senior Mairi Buchan and sophomore Tiffany Minor. Buchan scored nine points in the first half and tallied four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals in the game while Minor scored nine of her 11 points after halftime to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The Lady Monarchs pressure defense flustered the Patriots at times as they turned it over on six consecutive possessions midway through the first half and didn’t score a point for over five minutes as ODU took a 29-21 lead into halftime. In the second half, ODU extended the lead but Mason would close the gap to five with 8:32 to play but could get no closer as the Lady Monarchs put the game out of reach late.
Sophomore Shae Kelley had nine points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals for ODU who shot 35.6 percent from the field (16-45). George Mason (6-14, 1-8) meanwhile shot 34.5 percent (19-55) but just 26.9 percent in the second half (7-26).
The Patriots were led by Rahneeka Saunders who had 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals while Amber Easter had 11 points and six rebounds but fouled out of the game late in the second half.
Old Dominion continues their road swing on Sunday when they head to Philadelphia to take on Drexel at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 4:30 p.m. in a game televised regionally by Comcast SportsNet.
Follow Old Dominion women’s basketball on Twitter at twitter.com/ODUWBB and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/LadyMonarchsWBB.