PHILADELPHIA, Penn. – A late Old Dominion (21-13) rally fell just short in ODU’s 71-66 loss at Villanova (21-13) in the Second Round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament on Sunday afternoon at The Pavilion, where the Wildcats are 13-2 this year. Jennie Simms scored 20 of her 29 points in the second half to lead all scorers.
Simms also hauled down seven rebounds, dished out five assists and compiled two steals in 39 minutes of work. Tiffany Minor followed, scoring 12 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Ashley Betz-White chipped in 10 points, while Destinee Young netted eight points to compliment seven rebounds.
Today’s contest marked the final time that Tiffany Minor and Chelisa Painter would put on a Lady Monarch uniform. Astonishingly, Minor appeared in all 131 possible games during her four-year career at Old Dominion.
In a contest that the Lady Monarchs trailed by as many as 15 points multiple times, Old Dominion continued chipping away at its deficit, 67-60, with 1:47 showing on the second half game-clock. 16 seconds later, Tiffany Minor drilled a three-pointer to bring the score to 67-63 in favor of the Wildcats with 1:31 left.
Villanova would then hit both free-throws to take a 69-63 advantage with 46 seconds remaining, before Simms drilled her fifth three-pointer to bring the game to a one possession contest, 69-66, with 33 seconds to play.
With the shot-clock and game-clock winding down, Villanova’s Taylor Holeman knocked down a jumper with just four seconds left to lift the Wildcats over the Lady Monarchs (71-66) on Sunday afternoon.
ODU jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the contest, before Villanova answered back with a 12-2 run over a 3:15 span to claim a 12-9 lead at the first media timeout (14:18). ODU hit just two field goals in the last 10 minutes of the first half, while the Wildcats used an 18-6 run to take a 41-28 advantage into the locker rooms at halftime. VU’s bench outscored Old Dominion’s 12-0 in the opening 20 minutes.
Villanova held its largest lead of the ballgame at the 14:02 mark of the second half, 53-38. The Wildcats possessed a 61-50 lead with 7:13 remaining in regulation, and maintained an eleven-point lead with just 4:33 to play, 63-52. Despite a valiant effort by Old Dominion, Villanova was able to survive and advance to the Third Round of the WNIT.
Emily Leer (23 points on 10-14 FG) led two other Wildcats in double figures: Katherine Coyer (13 points) and Carolina Coyer (11 points and seven assists).
For the ballgame, Old Dominion connected on 48% (24-50) from the floor, 57.9% (11-19) from three and 58.3% (7-12) from the charity stripe. Villanova shot 48.4% (30-62) from the floor, 45% (9-20) from deep and 100% (2-2) from the free-throw line. The Wildcats assisted on 22 of their 30 made baskets.
The Wildcats will next take on St. Johns in the next round, after the Red Storm downed Fordham, 77-63, on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
The Lady Monarchs completed their best season under head coach Karen Barefoot, winning 21 games for the year.
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