By Harry Minium
Chartway Arena was rocking and rolling. Every time the Old Dominion women's basketball team scored, the crowd would roar its approval. Each defensive stop would result in more cheers.
The crowd was standing for the last several minutes of regulation and throughout the 5-minute overtime.
Then, seconds after ODU claimed a 67-59 victory over Rice that ended the Owls' 30-game Conference USA winning streak, there was a thunderous standing ovation that extended for several minutes as the players celebrated at mid court.
Coach Nikki McCray-Penson was a picture of joy as her players mobbed her.
For those of us fortunate enough to watch the ODU women in their glory days, when they won national championships and were almost always in the NCAA tournament, this game was reminiscent of what things were like then.
ODU has not yet reached its potential under McCray. Far from it. She wants to build a Top 10 program.
In other words, the best is yet to come.
Nor has ODU's fan base reached its potential, either. The crowd of 2,732 was good, but there remains much room for growth.
"We're trying to turn the program around and this was a big win for us," Wayne said.
"I think people are paying attention to us now."
Indeed they are. I saw faces in the crowd I haven't seen in a while. The older fans are slowly coming back. In time, I hope others begin to return as well.
Regardless, McCray said this was a game for all of Monarch Nation to celebrate. Former All-American Nancy Lieberman was among those who Tweeted her congratulations to the Monarchs and McCray paid tribute to Lieberman and others who helped make ODU a national power back in the day.
"I'm so happy for our fans," McCray said. "To be able to play a championship type team on our home floor, with a great atmosphere, I know that meant so much to them.
"Those fans who have been to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16, they were in the stands. They were just energized. We wanted it for them.
"We wanted it for our alumni. We wanted for all of the players who have worn this Old Dominion uniform and for all of the coaches who came before us."
The victory moved ODU (21-3) into first place in Conference USA and up to 28th in the NCAA RPI. That ranking would be good enough to land the Monarchs an NCAA tournament automatic bid.
But there are six games to go and a lot can happen between now and the C-USA tournament in Frisco, Texas.
ODU hosts North Texas Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the annual Hoops for the Cure game, in which cancer survivors will do a walk around the arena wearing pink.
McCray is a breast cancer survivor who lost her Mom to breast cancer in 2018, so this game is always special to her.
If ODU stumbles in their final six games, they could fall back on the NCAA bubble. I two games have penciled in on my calendar that are huge games:
Thursday March 5, when ODU hosts UAB. The Blazers won, 76-65, when the teams last met on Jan. 4 in Birmingham.
And Thursday, March 7, when ODU ends the regular season at Rice. Surely, the Owls will be aching for revenge.
For now, though, there is much to celebrate. ODU is just two years removed from the 2017-2018 team, which had barely enough good players to put a team on the court and finished 8-23.
The turnaround that has occurred since is remarkable.
Much credit, of course goes to McCray, who should be a shoe-in for C-USA Coach of the Year, to assistant coaches Keith Freeman, Scepter Brownlee and Brittany Young and director of operations Ashley Morris, who keeps the entire program working smoothly.
They worked incredibly long hours and crisscrossed the country in search of talent. ODU's roster has players from seven states and Germany.
They not only recruited good players, they developed them. I've seen few coaches who demand more focus and discipline than McCray, who acknowledged her players "don't always like what I say."
"I'm OK with that," she added, "because it's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing when you can win and come consistently focused to every game."
The players, too, deserve a ton of credit. This team is close and is rarely outworked. The Monarchs at times overwhelmed the Owls with their defense and up tempo offense.
The Monarchs were jacked up for this game. Ajah Wayne was coming off an ankle injury and didn't know for sure that she was dressing until shortly before game time. Yet she scored 21 points in 31 minutes oblivious to any pain she may have been feeling.
Amaya Register missed the last two games with a leg injury and while she didn't score, she gave ODU 15 valuable minutes of in-you-face defensive play. When she wasn't in the game, she was on an exercise bike and when the game ended, her leg was packed with ice.
When I asked McCray if this team was ahead of the schedule she envisioned for two years ago, she smiled and praised her players for their hard work. In other words, she was saying, they deserve the credit.
"When you work hard and do things the right way, I think good things happen," she said. "And that's what we've done. And I don't expect anything less."
Remaining first in Conference USA will require "a tremendous amount of focus," she said.
"It's hard to stay at that level," she said. "Rice has done it. To win 30 games in a row, that's hard to stay at that level in this league and have that focus.
"And that's what it's going to take."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu