MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Old Dominion women's basketball team turned in 50 second-half points to upset C-USA East leading Middle Tennessee by a 74-57 final score on Friday night. Three Monarchs recorded double-digit scoring performances en route to ODU's 17-point victory in the Murphy Center.
"We felt like this was our game for the taking based off the matchups, who we are defensively and offensively," explained head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. "Our girls came out a little slow in the beginning, but once we got our momentum, there was no looking back."
Juniors Ajah Wayne (18 pts, 10 rebs) and Amari Young (14 pts, 14 rebs) recorded double-doubles. Young notched her seventh double-double of the season and 14th of her career. Maggie Robinson recorded 14 points to go along with five rebounds. The Mobile, Alabama native recorded her sixth double-digit performance of the 2020-21 season.
In a low-scoring first quarter, Middle Tennessee opened the game with an early 2-0 lead, however senior Victoria Morris quickly evened up the contest. The next eight minutes consisted of two lead changes, but a Lady Raider three-point field goal with 20 seconds left on the clock gave them a three-point lead after the first quarter. The Monarchs were relentless on defense, outrebounding the Lady Raiders, 13-10 in the first 10 minutes of action.
The Monarchs picked up its offensive efforts in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Raiders, 14-12 with seven points from Mariah Adams, who went 3-for-4 from the field. ODU went into the locker room trailing by one point, 25-24.
Young and Maggie Robinson gave ODU an offensive spark in the third quarter, coming up with a combined 21 points. Despite the Lady Raiders opening up the second half with a bucket, ODU responded with a 10-3 scoring run, highlighted by two Monarch triples to take an 34-30 lead with 7:29 left in the third quarter. Middle Tennessee again tied it up off an Anastasia Hayes layup, but Young scored a field goal off a Wayne offensive board to put ODU back up by two at the 5:52 mark. The Monarchs dominated the rest of the third quarter, stretching its lead to eight with a Robinson trey with four seconds remaining in the third quarter. ODU went into the fourth quarter of play with a 54-46 lead.
ODU used the fourth quarter to pull away from the Lady Raiders, outscoring Middle Tennessee, 20-11 and outrebounding, 12-7. By way of its 8-3 scoring run to open the fourth quarter, ODU saw its biggest lead of the contest to that point as it led the Lady Raiders by 13-points with 8:24 left in the fourth quarter. Middle Tennessee chipped away at its deficit with three consecutive field goals, cutting ODU's lead down to seven. The Monarchs kept the pressure on, mounting a 12-2 scoring run to close out the game.
"The month of February has been the kindest to us in terms of the amount of practices we've had. We have found our rhythm, our identity and now we know what we can hang our hats on at the beginning and end of every day," Milton-Jones said.
Middle Tennessee (12-6, 10-3 C-USA) was led by Anastasia Hayes, who posted 32 points and six rebounds.
The Monarchs (8-9, 5-9 C-USA) shot 46 percent from the floor and forced 13 turnovers against the Lady Raider squad.
Up Next
ODU will return back to the Murphy Center to take on Middle Tennessee at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and aired on the ODU Sports Radio Network with Doug Ripley's pregame coverage beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Women’s Hoops Topples C-USA East Division Leader Middle Tennessee, 74-57
