NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University women’s basketball history was made on Wednesday afternoon in the Lady Monarchs 90-57 route of the UMass Lowell River Hawks (0-8), as the all-time Ted Constant Convocation Center’s attendance for a women’s hoops game was broken. 8,086 fans were on-hand for ODU’s 11 a.m. tipoff and victory today as part of the third annual Education Day for Norfolk Public Schools, topping the previous attendance record of 7,774 in 2010 when the Lady Vols from Tennessee visited the Ted.
Over 6,100 students from 32 surrounding elementary schools made for an electrifying atmosphere at the Ted for this year’s Education Day; shattering last year’s total of 2,800 elementary kids for the second annual event.
The Lady Monarchs (4-4) were led by junior co-captain Shae Kelley who recorded her third consecutive double-double with 26 points, 16 rebounds, three blocked shots, three steals and three assists.
Becca Allison poured in a new career high of 17 points (5-6 FG, 3-3 3PT), and also contributed five boards, four assists and two steals. Also in double figures for the Lady Monarchs was sophomore Galaisha Goodhope who went for 10 points, seven assists (tied career high) and five steals. George Washington transfer Chelisa Painter scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds in just 13 minutes of work.
At the half, Old Dominion only held a five point advantage before exploding for 52 points in the second half, compared to UMass Lowell’s 24 points in the last 20 minutes of play. ODU held the River Hawks to 27% shooting in the second half and just 30% overall for the game. The Lady Monarchs connected on 57.1% of their second half field-goal attempts and hit 45.9% of their attempted shots for the game.
In a game that UML never took a lead or even tied the score, Old Dominion led by as many 35 with 3:56 to play in the contest. ODU dominated in rebounding (64-37), assists (23-8) and points in the paint (56-28).
The River Hawks entered the affair averaging 34 three-point attempts each game; on Wednesday, they shot 35 and made four of those attempts for an 11.4% success rate from downtown.
Wednesday’s ballgame saw a total of 56 turnovers, with the Lady Monarch’s turning the ball over 28 times and the River Hawks 27 times. UMass Lowell hit on 84.6% of their free-throws (11-13); Old Dominion went 17-36 (47.2%) from the charity stripe.
Shannon Samuels was the lone UML player to reach double digits with 12 points (5-8 FG) and five steals.
First Half Notes
The Lady Monarchs jumped out to an early 12-4 lead eight minutes into the game behind five quick points from senior Becca Allison. UMass Lowell was able to get the score to 21-15 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half, as Asia Mitchell sparked the River Hawks with four points of the bench.
In Michelle Brandao’s first minutes in a home game this season, she racked up five assists over a six-minute span.
With 4:50 showing on the clock, UMass Lowell had ODU’s lead down to 30-24. It was then that UML’s Mitchell buried a three-pointer for her seventh point of the first half, making the score 30-27.
Again the River Hawks cut their deficit to one point at the 2:30 mark, 32-31. The two teams would march into their locker rooms with Old Dominion on-top of UMass Lowell, 38-33.
For the half, the Lady Monarchs turned the ball over 18 times, while the River Hawks turned the ball over 15 times themselves. From the free-throw line, UML hit on 10-11 (90.9%) of their attempts; ODU was just 9-17 (52.9%) from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.
Shannon Samuel’s led the way for UMass Lowell shooting 4-6 from the field for 10 points.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
The Lady Monarchs will remain at home for a 7 p.m. tip against UMES on Saturday, December 7, before being on the road (at Pittsburgh, at William and Mary, at VCU and at Duke) for nearly a month until returning back home on Jan. 5.
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