NORFOLK, Va. – Jennie Simms’ 17 points and career high 14 rebounds propelled the Old Dominion women’s basketball team (11-7, 4-3) to victory over UAB (9-9, 3-4) by a score of 58-46 in front of a crowd of 2,227 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon.
For the game, the Lady Monarchs bench outscored the Blazers 25-6. LaQuanda Younger sparked Old Dominion off the bench in her 12-point performance on 5-6 shooting from the floor (2-3 3PT FG).
At the second media timeout of the contest of the first-half, the Lady Monarchs held onto to a 6-5 lead with 11:22 to play behind four early points from LaQuanda Younger.
Old Dominion held UAB to 3-20 shooting in the first 16:13 of play on Saturday, while the Lady Monarchs jumped out to an 18-12 lead with 3:47 left in the first half. ODU then connected on four of its next five field to take a 27-17, forcing a Blazers timeout with 13 seconds remaining in the opening 20 minutes. Just before halftime, Janae Smith banked in a three-pointer to make the score 27-20 at the half.
In a first half, which experienced three lead changes, the Lady Monarchs bench outscored the Blazers, 16-3. Younger led the way for ODU with nine points and two assists, while Annika Holopainen came off the bench as well to contribute five points and three boards. UAB’s Smith ended the half with eight points and five rebounds.
For the first half, ODU connected on 11-33 (33.3%) from the floor, 3-10 (30%) from deep and 2-6 (33.3%) from the FT line. UAB hit 5-25 (20%) from the floor in the first half, 3-10 (30%) from three and 7-9 (77.8%) from the free-throw line.
The Blazers kicked off the second half on a 6-0 run over the first five minutes of action, bringing the score to 27-26 in favor of ODU with 14:35 remaining in regulation. By the under-eight media timeout, Old Dominion stretched its advantage to 38-31 behind Younger’s second three-pointer of the contest with 7:06 to play.
ODU used a 6-0 run over a 2:20 span to take a 46-36 advantage with just 2:02 remaining in the contest before claiming a 58-46 victory over the Blazers on Saturday afternoon at the Constant Center.
Ije Ajemba grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and scored four points, while Ashley Betz-White finished with nine points and three steals. Janae Smith led the way for the Blazers, netting 21 points (6-6 FT) to go along with 10 rebounds.
For the ballgame, Old Dominion shot 33.3% (16-48) from the floor, 30.8% (4-13) from downtown and 71% (22-31) from the charity stripe. UAB shot 25.5% (14-55) from the floor, 35.3% (6-17) from three and 80% (12-15) from the free-throw line.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
Old Dominion will travel to Florida for a pair of Conference USA showdowns. First, the Lady Monarchs will take on FIU on Jan. 29 at 6:00 p.m. EST. Then on Sat., Jan. 31, ODU will take on FAU at 5:00 p.m. EST.
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