By Harry Minium
It's been more than a decade since the Old Dominion University women's basketball team hosted a truly big and meaningful game.
That changes Thursday night when Rice comes to Chartway Arena (6:30 P.M., ESPN+) with first place in Conference USA on the line.
How big is this game? Not since 2007-2008 has ODU been a real factor in a conference race nor have the Monarchs made any noise nationally. But if the Monarchs win Thursday, they would move into first place in Conference USA lead with four games to go.
Less than two years removed from an 8-23 record in coach Nikki McCray-Penson's first season, the Monarchs are 20-3, 10-1 in Conference and have won nine in a row and are 11-0 at home this season.
The Monarchs are 32nd in the NCAA RPI and most prognosticators predict that if ODU doesn't win the C-USA title and the accompanying NCAA tournament bid, they will receive an at-large bid.
Winning this game could go a long way toward solidifying that at-large bid.
Rice is 16-6 overall and 11-0 in Conference USA. The Owls are led by 6-foot-9 Nancy Mulkey, rated the nation's top post player when she was in high school, and guard Erica Ogwumike, who is a foot shorter than Mulkey but was Conference USA Player of the Year last season.
The Owls are defending Conference USA champions and have won 30 league games in a row. They haven't lost a C-USA game since the 2018 tournament.
Thirty in a row. In any league, that's an impressive feat.
Of Rice's 11 wins this season, the narrowest victory margin was eight points, and most were won by double digits.
"This is a very big game for us," sophomore forward Amari Young said. "The No. 1 and No. 2 teams are playing. This is a huge game for us."
And could be just as huge for the program.
ODU was one of the pioneers in women's basketball, a national power long before others began to put resources into women's athletics.
The first school in Virginia to offer scholarships to female athletes, the Lady Monarchs used their fast start to recruit players such as Nancy Lieberman and Anne Donovan and won three national championships in the 1970s and 1980s.
Even when Power 5 schools got serious about women's basketball, ODU long stood among the game's giants. Coach Wendy Larry took ODU to the national championship game against Tennessee in 1996 and to the NCAA tournament 18 consecutive years.
But since its last NCAA appearance in 2008, ODU has largely fallen out of the national picture.
The Monarchs are fighting and clawing their way back. A victory against Rice would surely resonate among Associated Press top 25 voters and among the national media who focus on women's basketball.
Getting to this point, and beyond, has been McCray's goal since she took over a program in disarray nearly three years ago.
A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, former Tennessee All-American and a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, McCray took the ODU job because she felt like she could lead ODU back to national prominence.
She and her staff worked so long and so hard in her first season that at one point, President John R. Broderick sent them a catered dinner.
She is tamping down expectations a bit for Thursday's game because her team isn't yet where she wants it to be. Yes, ODU has won 20 games, but her team is behind offensively because many key players were injured and unable to work out this summer.
"We're still trying to evolve and get better each game," McCray said.
"We look at this as just like any other game. I don't get too high with the highs or low with the lows.
"I feel really good about where our program is. Our kids have worked really hard. But we're a long way from where we want to be. We're just trying to get better."
The key for ODU will be clamping down on Mulkey and Ogwumike, who were teammates together at Cypress Woods High School in Cypress, Texas.
Mulkey averages 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds and is a defensive intimidator with 65 blocked shots. A year ago, Mulkey led the NCAA in blocked shots at nearly four per game and was C-USA's Defensive Player of the Year.
Ogwumike has great basketball genes – her two older sisters play in the WNBA -- and she leads C-USA with 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. She has been on a scoring tear as of late. In Rice's last seven games, she twice scored 30 points and 25 twice more.
Ogwumike transferred to Rice from Pepperdine, where she was an All-West Coast Conference selection as a true freshman. Mulkey transferred from Oklahoma.
ODU has stepped up marketing efforts for this game, which is expected to draw the second-biggest crowd of the season – the Monarchs had 5,935 against Winthrop in which thousands of Norfolk public school students attended.
Football coach Ricky Rahne recorded a video urging fans to go to the game. Tickets have been distributed to some student groups – students can attend simply by showing their student ID.
For the many former ODU women's fans who haven't been to a game in a while, I say if you're ever going to come back, come back Thursday. This is a good team playing at a high level who if they continue winning, will break into the Top 25. Many of you demanded a winning program and now you've got one.
The ODU men don't play home this week and perhaps not next as well. Men's basketball fans often don't go to women's games, but in this case, they should.
McCray says this game is just another step in ODU's growth, but is far from the ultimate goal. After a recent game, she told the crowd that her hope is to win a national championship.
A lofty goal, indeed, but one worth chasing. Given enough time, ODU's tradition and McCray's deep resume and reputation should get ODU back in the national conversation.
"Rice is very good," she said. "We're just trying to get where they are. They've used a blueprint to get where they are that we're trying to follow.
"I'm glad we're playing them at home. Since I've been here, we've only played them on the road.
"I'm glad were in this position, to have an opportunity to play for first place, to get a chance the play the best team at home."
And so should ODU fans.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu