HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The Old Dominion Lady Monarchs fell on the road to the Marshall Thundering Herd by an 80-62 margin on Sunday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center. ODU fell to 7-12 overall and 3-4 in Conference USA, while Marshall improved to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in league play.
Jennie Simms paced ODU with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Destinee Young added nine points and 10 rebounds. Ije Ajemba chipped in six points and eight boards, while Gianna Smith put up eight points for Old Dominion.
The Lady Monarchs struggled offensively at the start of the contest, connecting on just one of eight shots from the field (12.5%) by the 4:41 mark. By the end of the first period, both teams made six field goals, but the Lady Monarchs allowed Marshall to connect on four three-pointers to take a 21-15 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Marshall increased its lead over ODU to 10 points by the 7:54 mark in the second period, forcing the Lady Monarchs to call a timeout and regroup. Marshall jumped out to a 15-point advantage following the break after putting together a quick 7-2 spurt. ODU responded with energy during the final 2:30 of play forcing Marshall into three-consecutive turnovers that led to nine points for ODU. Keyana Brown hit two fast-break threes to pull Old Dominion within eight points and Simms capped the 9-0 run with a three of her own. Marshall got a low post bucket from Madison Morris with 57 seconds left until halftime to give the Thundering Herd the 34-27 advantage at the intermission. So far this season, the Lady Monarchs are 0-9 when trailing a the half, while the Thundering Herd are a spotless 10-0.
Old Dominion shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes (10-30), while Marshall went 11-for-27 for 40.7 percent. The Lady Monarchs crashed the boards hard and held a +3 edge on the glass (21-18) with Young leading the way with seven rebounds.
The Thundering Herd opened the third quarter with an 11-6 run to bring their lead over Old Dominion back to double-figures (45-33) with 6:12 left on the clock. The Lady Monarchs took a timeout following the run, but Marshall responded with another 9-0 spurt over a span of 2:08 to take a 19-point lead with 3:57 left in the period. Both teams traded baskets over the final minutes of the period, as Marshall entered the last quarter with a 59-43 lead over the Lady Monarchs.
ODU chipped away at the Marshall lead and pulled within nine points with 3:53 remaining in the game, but in order to stop the clock the Lady Monarchs were forced to foul the Thundering Herd. In the final 2:11 of the contest, Marshall scored 13 points from the charity stripe to secure the victory over Old Dominion.
For the game, ODU shot 31.8 percent from the floor (21-66) and were just 6-for-23 from beyond the arc. Marshall completed the game with a 39.6 shooting percentage after going 21-for-53 from the field. The Lady Monarchs did hold a positive margin on the boards, out-rebounding the Thundering Herd 45-41.
Taylor Porter led the Thundering Herd with 18 points, while Norrisha Victrum added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Talequia Hamilton was the only other player in double-figures for Marshall, as she finished with 14 points and six rebounds. The Lady Monarchs held returning all-conference player Leah Scott to just nine points (averaging 16.8 ppg) on 4-of-15 shooting.
UP NEXT FOR ODU
The Lady Monarchs will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 28 at the Ted Constant Center against the Florida Atlantic Owls at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live through Monarch Media and broadcast on STAR 1310 AM.
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