NORFOLK, Va. -- Old Dominion will look to avenge losses to Western Kentucky and Marshall from earlier in the season, as the Lady Monarchs host the two programs at the Ted Constance Center this weekend.
ODU will take on WKU on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. before facing the Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
HOW TO TUNE IN
Thursday’s contest against the Lady Toppers will be streamed through Monarch Media on odusports.com and the C-USA Digital Network, while being broadcast on STAR 1310 AM with Doug Ripley on the call starting at 6:30 p.m. (ET). Fans can also follow live stats.
Saturday’s game with the Thundering Herd is once again streamed through Monarch Media and the C-USA Digital Network. The radio broadcast will be housed on ESPN 941, with the show beginning at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Live stats will also be available once the game starts.
ABOUT ODU
The Lady Monarchs enter the week with an 11-13 overall record and a 7-5 mark in Conference USA action, which puts the team in a three-way tie for fourth place in the league standings with Charlotte and LA Tech. Last week, ODU went 1-1 after defeating North Texas handedly (65-48), but dropped a 22-point loss (68-46) at Rice.
Redshirt junior guard Jennie Simms leads ODU on the offensive end and is one of just three female players in the nation to lead the conference rankings in overall scoring and conference scoring only. She pours in 19.3 points overall and 19.9 points per C-USA outing to go along with her 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Destinee Young adds 10.7 points and 8.1 boards, while Ije Ajemba adds another post presence with 7.5 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game.
ABOUT WKU
The Lady Toppers are coming off a close victory over Marshall and enter the game with a 19-4 overall record and a 10-2 mark in league play. Ivy Brown knocked down all five of her three-pointers and finished 9-of-10 from the field to reach 26 points and added 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Kendall Noble poured in 22 points for the Lady Toppers (19-4, 10-2 C-USA) and Taylor Brown connected on 7-of-13 shots for 16 points.
Tashia Brown and Noble lead the team with 17.8 and 17.0 points per game, respectively. Noble also pulls in 7.8 rebounds per game and dishes out a team-leading 5.2 assists per outing. Ivy Brown chips in 12.0 points and a team-high 9.1 rebounds per contest.
Now in her fourth season as the WKU head coach, Michelle Clark-Heard has reached two NCAA Tournaments, won two conference tournament championships and a regular season conference title, During her first three seasons, she led to team to 76 wins, the most in a coaches first three seasons in WKU women's basketball or men's basketball history. Last season, she led the Lady Toppers to a 30-5 record, posting a Conference USA record 30 wins in the program's first season as a league member. At the conclusion of the season, she was named the Conference USA Coach of the Year and 2015 United States Marine Corps/WBCA NCAA Division I Regional Coach of the Year.
ABOUT MARSHALL
Despite knocking down 50.9 percent (27-of-53) of its shots and was a near-perfect 14-of-15 (93.3 percent) from the charity stripe, the Thundering Herd fell to WKU last Saturday to drop to 16-7, snapping a three-game winning streak, and are in seventh place at 6-6 in Conference USA action. Marshall was led by Norrisha Victrum's season-high 23 points, six assists and three steals. Leah Scott was held to four field goals but went 9-for-9 at the free throw line for 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Taylor Porter had a perfect shooting day, hitting all five of her shots, including three 3-pointers and Talequia Hamilton tacked on 11 points and three blocks.
Marshall will first take on Charlotte before making the trip to the Ted Constant Center on Saturday to face the Lady Monarchs. For the season, Scott leads the team with 16.9 points per outing, while pulling in a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game. Shayna Gore added 11.7 points, while Victrum is the only over player in double-figures with 10.0 points per game. Victrum also leads the team with 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
Matt Daniel is currently in his fourth season at the helm of the Thundering Herd women’s basketball program. Last season, Daniel guided Marshall to a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitational in and captured the program's first postseason win in the NCAA era (81-79 victory over Northern Kentucky) in only its second appearance. The WBI run also extended the Herd's season later than any other season since the 1971-72 season where the program played to the end of March (but only 17 games). He also mentored Leah Scott and Chukwuka Ezeigbo, who each became just the fourth and fifth student-athletes in program history to gain All-Conference USA recognition.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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