NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion University women’s basketball team (2-1) would go on a 24-4 run and only allow 16 Highlander points in the second half on their way to a 56-37 victory over Radford University (2-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. ODU’s Chelisa Painter scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while junior Shae Kelley poured in a team high 13 points to go along with her eight rebounds.
However, perhaps it was Galaisha Goodhope who sparked the Lady Monarchs off the bench with her seven points, six rebounds, career-high six steals and four assists.
Radford was led by Rachel Ross (13 points, seven rebounds) and Breshara Gordon (10 points). Gordon is a 5’6 senior guard out of Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk, Va.
For the game, ODU held advantages in fast-break points (18-0), points in the paint (32-16), points off turnovers (25-11) and second chance points (9-7). Old Dominion forced a total of 26 turnovers, while turning the ball over themselves a total of 15 times.
Both teams shot 32% from the floor (ODU: 19-59 / Radford: 14-43) for the game and neither team shot the ball particularly well from behind the arc on Saturday (Radford: 3-11/ ODU: 2-15). The Lady Monarchs hit on 16 of their 26 free-throw attempts (61.5%); Radford hit six of their 15 FT’s (40%).
The Highlanders jumped out to an early 10-6 lead to start the game behind six quick points from Gordon. ODU would then go on a 15-5 run to take a 21-15 lead into the under-four media timeout. Old Dominion and Radford would enter halftime with the Lady Monarchs in favor, 23-21. The first 20 minutes of play saw three lead changes and a total of four ties.
ODU started the second half out on a 7-2 run, forcing Radford’s first-year head coach, Mike McGuire to call a timeout at the 16:23 mark, with Old Dominion leading 30-23. The Highlanders answered ODU’s run on a 10-2 run of their own, giving RU a 33-32 advantage.
The back and forth theme would continue when Old Dominion entered the under-eight media timeout on a 7-0 run and leading 39-33 with 7:49 to go before ODU ran off to a 56-37 victory on Sunday.
First Half Notes
Odegua Oigbokie, the 6’1 freshman out of Memphis, Tenn., picked up her first career start of her young collegiate career.
In the first eight minutes, Radford came out of the gates connecting on five of their 11 field goal attempts for a 45.5% success rate, while the Lady Monarchs only connected on 2-9 (22.2%) during that stretch, in which the Highlanders held a 10-6 advantage. The two teams would head back to their locker rooms, with Old Dominion grasping at a two-point lead.
For the half, Radford was led by Rachael Ross and Breshara Gordon who both racked up eight points apiece, respectively. ODU was led by Chelisa Painter who scored seven points and hauled down seven boards in just 12 minutes of work.
The Lady Monarchs were able to force 14 RU turnovers, while the Highlanders forced nine ODU TO’s of their own. Old Dominion held a 10-8 advantage on points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play (which translated into 41% of the scoring in half number one).
RU shot 8-22 (36.4%) for the half compared to Old Dominion’s 7-29 (24.1%). The Highlanders went 1-3 (33%) on their three-point field goal attempts while ODU only hit 1-11 (9.1%). The Lady Monarchs connected on 8-15 (53.3%) of their free-throws; Radford hit four of their five attempts from the charity stripe.
ATTENDANCE: 2,488
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
The Lady Monarchs will be back in action next weekend for three consecutive days of games from Columbus, Ohio for the Basketball Hall of Fame Tournament. On Friday, Nov. 22 they will take on Ohio State at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Monarchs will then square off against Bowling Green at 5:30 p.m. Finally, ODU will close out the road trip with Marist on Sunday with tip-off slated for 1 p.m.
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Lady Monarchs Finish Strong in 56-37 Win Over Radford
