NORFOLK, Va. -- In front of 3,129 fans dressed in pink for the 15th Annual Hoops for the Cure game, the Old Dominion women's basketball team recorded a wire-to-wire 73-61 victory over UAB on Saturday afternoon at the Ted Constant Center.
"We had confidence and people were knocking down shots," said head coach Karen Barefoot. "As a result, everybody gave us something. Everybody was ready and we stayed ready and stayed together and, as a result, we had a big win."
Jennie Simms led Old Dominion (13-11, 8-5 C-USA) with 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. The points-assists double-double was Simms' first of her career and the first in program history since Jazzmin Walters had 17 points and 10 assists against Virginia in 2008. Destinee Young also finished with a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Monarchs opened the game with a 14-7 run and carried a 21-12 lead into the second quarter. ODU then extended its lead to as many as 19 at 39-20 late in the second quarter and would go into halftime with a 41-26 advantage.
In the opening half, ODU shot 47.1 percent from the field, while holding UAB (12-12, 5-8 C-USA) to 36.0 percent shooting. The Lady Monarchs forced nine UAB first-half turnovers and committed just four.
The Lady Monarchs continued the momentum into the third quarter, as ODU shot 57.1 percent from the field in the third and pushed the lead to 20 at 58-38 with 2:33 remaining in the third. ODU entered the fourth with a 60-42 lead, but UAB was able to cut the lead to nine on two occasions early in the fourth. A corner three from MaKayla Timmons then gave ODU a 12-point advantage at 68-56 with 3:31 remaining and the Lady Monarchs would lead by double digits for the remainder of the contest.
Overall, ODU shot 49.1 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three, while outrebounding UAB, 35-27. The Lady Monarchs assisted on 19 of 28 field goals, while committing just 14 turnovers.
Gianna Smith finished third on the team in scoring with eight points, while Timmons and Keyana Brown each finished with six. Rachael Childress led UAB with 13 points and seven rebounds.
"We fixed a lot of things from our last game," said Barefoot. "We were able to play team defense and really talk, because UAB is a great shooting team. They have great shooters, so we had to make sure we got in there with a high hand. We kept talking and I think that was the key."
UP NEXT
The Lady Monarchs travel to Charlotte on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in their lone game of the week. The game will be televised on American Sports Network (ASN).