NORFOLK, Va. – In the 33rd all-time and first meeting since 2008, it was the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs (21-12, 11-7 C-USA) who were too much for the Virginia Cavaliers (17-14, 7-9 ACC) in the First Round of the 2015 Women's National Invitation Tournament on Thursday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Destinee Young recorded a career high of 20 points to go along with seven rebounds in 26 minutes of work in the winning effort.
Old Dominion will now play the winner of the Villanova versus Maine game, which will be played tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. If Villanova wins, ODU will travel to Philadelphia to play Villanova on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. If Maine beats Villanova, then the Lady Monarchs will travel to Orono for a showdown with UMaine on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
Young led three other Lady Monarchs in doubles figures: Tiffany Minor (14 points and three assists), Jennie Simms (13 points, eight rebounds and six assists) and Chelisa Painter (12 points, nine rebounds and four assists).
ODU shot 44.3% for the contest, while limiting UVA to just two free-throws for the entire contest.
Virginia cut its deficit down to five points, 60-55, with 3:30 remaining in regulation; however, the Lady Monarchs answered right back to stretch its advantage to 62-55 with just 2:54 remaining before putting the Cavaliers away for good on Thursday night.
Old Dominion forced a UVA timeout at the 15:16 mark of the first half, after jumping out to an early 12-7 lead behind four points from Destinee Young and Chelisa Painter each, respectively. By the second media timeout of the first half, ODU held a 12-10 lead and a 10-2 advantage for points in the paint.
With 7:17 remaining in the opening 20 minutes, ODU held onto a 20-17, as Tiffany Minor drilled two of her first four three point attempts. The Lady Monarchs stretched its advantage to 29-21, forcing another Virginia timeout with 4:25 left in the first.
In a first half which experienced three ties and two lead changes and an Old Dominion 10-point lead (3:39 and 2:06), the Lady Monarchs took a 36-26 advantage into the locker rooms at halftime. ODU held advantages for: points in the paint (18-8), points off turnovers (10-4) and fast-break points (6-0).
Jennie Simms stuffed the stat-sheet in the first half, going for seven points, six rebounds and five assists. Destinee Young netted 10 first half points to lead the Lady Monarchs. Mikayla Venson led the way for Virginia with 10 first half points of her own.
Old Dominion took its largest lead of the game 1:07 into the second half, before connecting on three of its first six from the floor to take a 44-33 with 15:32 showing on the game-clock. With 10:56 to play, the Lady Monarchs led 48-39, while holding a 24-14 advantage for points in the paint.
The Cavaliers used a 6-0 run over a 1:37 span to cut its deficit to just three (48-45) with 9:03 left in the second half. Old Dominion answered right back, stretching its lead to 56-49 at the 7:01 mark.
Virginia was led by Mikayla Venson’s 19 points, while Breyana Mason’s followed with 17 points.
2015 NIT Dates
The 64-team field will be announced late Monday evening, March 16, 2015. The first round will kick off Wednesday, March 18, with the event culminating on Saturday, April 4 with the championship.
Selection – Monday, March 16.
Round 1 – March 18-20.
Round 2 – March 21-24.
Round 3 – March 25-27.
Round 4 – March 28-30.
Semifinals – April 1-2.
Championship – Saturday, April 4, 3 p.m. ET.
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