DURHAM, N.C. – The Old Dominion University women’s basketball team (6-7) fell to the No. 3 ranked Duke Blue Devils (13-1), 87-63, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in front of 4,450 fans on Thursday night. Tiffany Minor led the way for the Lady Monarchs as she recorded her career high in points with 20 on 8-13 shooting from the floor.
ODU head coach Karen Barefoot said after the game, “Our team showed a lot of toughness today against an unbelievable Duke basketball team. They're well-coached, they play hard, they've got great players, great coaching staff. But I thought we did a really good job of battling today and being us. I thought we were tough today. We weren't perfect, but we played hard and we scrapped and we executed.”
LaQuanda Younger also set a new career high for points in a game, as she ended with 15 points on 5-7 shooting from behind the arc.
By the 3:40 mark in the first half, Duke held their largest to that point (15), before Younger went off and drilled four three-pointers to pull Old Dominion as close as six points (38-32). Duke would close the half on a 7-0 run and take a 45-32 advantage into the locker room.
Tricia Liston led the way for No. 3 Duke, scoring all 17 of her points in the first half. Oderah Chidom scored 13 points on 6-7 shooting in just 11 minutes of work. Also in double figures for the Blue Devils, were Elizabeth Williams (12 rebounds) and Alexis Jones, who each scored 12 points on Thursday night.
Galaisha Goodhope went for eight points and three assists against the Blue Devils, while both Shae Kelley and Chelisa Painter added 6 points apiece.
As a team, Duke connected on 36-69 (52.2%) of their field goals, shot 6-16 (37.5%) from three and hit 9-15 (60%) of their free-throws. The Lady Monarchs drilled 24-56 (42.9%) of their FG attempts, made 9-22 (40.9%) from downtown and went 6-13 (46.2%) from the charity stripe.
First Half Notes
The Lady Monarchs utilized six quick points from Galaisha Goodhope to jump out to a 12-11 lead at the first media timeout. Duke then used a 12-2 run to take a 23-14 advantage with 10:45 to play in the opening half. At the under-8 media timeout, the Blue Devils led the Lady Monarchs, 30-18, before taking a 45-32 lead into the break.
For the half, Duke shot 18-29 from the floor for 62.1%, while ODU connected on 14-33 shots for a 42.4% completion rate. The Blue Devils connected on 4-8 three-point attempts (50%), and Old Dominion nailed 4-13 from downtown (30.8%).
LOOKING AHEAD
The Lady Monarchs will return back home to the Ted Constant Center on Jan. 5 when they take on North Carolina Central for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
Next Karen Barefoot Coach’s Show
The next Coach’s Show will be Monday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. at YNot in the University Village.
Be sure to follow ODU Women’s Basketball at @ODUWBB on Twitter and ‘Like’ the ODU Lady Monarch Basketball page by clicking HERE to stay up to date with the latest news and coverage.