NORFOLK, Va. – Shae Kelley set her career high with 32 points, as the Old Dominion University women’s basketball team extended their win streak to five after getting the better of conference foe, East Carolina, 87-78 on Wednesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Wednesday night’s ballgame also marked senior night for four Lady Monarchs: Becca Allison, Michelle Brandao, Stephanie Gardner and Shakeva Richards.
ODU finishes the regular season 16-14 overall and 9-7 in their first ever season in Conference USA. East Carolina drops to 22-7 overall and 10-6
The current five game win-streak is the longest during Karen Barefoot’s tenure at the helm with Old Dominion.
Shae Kelley also hauled down eight rebounds to compliment her career high. Seniors Becca Allison (11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists) and Stephanie Gardner (10 points) went out with a bang in what was their final regular season game in a Lady Monarch jersey. Allison and Gardner were named the Cox Communications Players of the Game.
The Lady Monarchs jumped out to a hot start, taking a 16-6 lead at the 13:21 mark in the first half, behind five points and five rebounds in just six minutes of work from Becca Allison.
The scored remained locked at 19-10 in favor of ODU from 11:31 to 7:02, before a Shae Kelley layup extended the lead to 21-10.
The seven points that ECU trailed by at halftime (34-27), would be as close as the Pirates would get after trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half.
Old Dominion opened the second half on a 9-1 run, taking a 43-28 lead and forcing an ECU timeout with 15:21 to play in the second half. With 9:05 left, the Pirates cut their deficit to eight points (53-45); however, they would not get any closer until just over two minutes remaining (76-68).
The Lady Monarchs proved to be resilient on the free-throw line and put East Carolina away for good to win their fifth consecutive conference contest.
For the game, Old Dominion hit 43.5% (27-62) of their shot attempts, 47.1% (8-17) from downtown and 64.1% (25-39) from the charity stripe. ECU shot 36.5% (27-74) from the floor, 25.9% (7-27) from three and 68% (17-25) from the free-throw line.
First Half Notes
Shae Kelley led all scorers with 11 points, while seniors Becca Allison (eight points and six rebounds) and Stephanie Gardner (seven points) also performed brilliantly in the opening 20 minutes to give ODU a 34-27 advantage at the half.
For the half, ODU connected on 12-31 field goals (38.7%), went 5-10 (50%) from three and knocked down 5-9 (55.6%) from the free throw line. As a team, ECU shot 32.3% (10-31) from the floor, 22.2% (2-9) from downtown and hit 5-7 from the charity stripe.
Next Up for the Lady Monarchs
Old Dominion will travel to El Paso, Texas, to take part in their first ever Conference USA Tournament. The Lady Monarchs know they will play on Wednesday, March 12; however, their opponent and time are still TBD.
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