NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's basketball dropped a 61-35 loss to Miami (Fla.) on Tuesday night at the Ted Constant Center.
ODU (1-2) was led by Jennie Simms, who tallied 16 points and eight rebounds, while Ije Ajemba added eight points and seven boards. Defensively, the Monarchs were able to hold Miami (3-0), who is receiving votes in both national polls, to under 40 percent shooting from the field at 38.2 percent.
The first five minutes of the game proved to be a defensive contest, as both teams combined for just eight total points (4-4) on 3-for-8 shooting. In the final three minutes, Miami picked up the pace and went on a 14-2 run to hold an 18-6 edge over the Lady Monarchs entering the second quarter.
The Lady Monarchs responded in the second period to the Miami momentum and doubled its point production from the first period to 14 points to pull within 12 points at half time. Simms led ODU in the first half with 10 points and five rebounds, while Adrienne Motley paced the Hurricanes with 12 points.
ODU opened the third period strong, putting up an 8-0 spurt to pull within four points by the 6:53 mark, but the Hurricanes once again countered. Miami put together an 18-0 run over the final 6:36, led by eight points from Motley. The Lady Monarchs were held to 0-for-9 shooting in the closing minutes of the third.
The Hurricanes continued to control the pace of the game and would outscore ODU, 11-7, in the final quarter. Motley, a Newport News native, led all scorers with 22 points. Erykah Davenport was the only other Hurricane in double figures with 10 points.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
ODU will be back in action on Monday, Nov. 23 at the Ted to take on East Tennessee State at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Monarch Media and can be found on the ODUSports website (www.odusports.com)
ETSU enters its third season under head coach Brittney Ezell and is coming off a 21-12 record a year ago in which they reached the Southern Conference Tournament Finals and earned a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).