Old Dominion (8-2) at Appalachian State (6-5)
Game Info – Saturday, Dec. 18 at 2 p.m.
Location – Holmes Convocation Center (Boone, N.C.)
Watch – ESPN+ ($)
Listen – ESPN Radio 94.1 FM
Live Stats – Click Here
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Game Notes – ODU | App State
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's basketball team looks to push its winning streak to seven games when it faces Appalachian State on the road Saturday at 2 p.m. Saturday's game is streaming live on ESPN+ ($) with the radio broadcast airing on ESPN Radio 94.1 FM.
The Starting Five
The Monarchs are winners of their past six games, their longest win streak under head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. During this run, ODU is outscoring opponents by over 20 points per game, shooting 42.7 percent from the floor, averaging 15.2 assists and turning over the competition 24.0 times.
ODU's last win came vs. Norfolk State, 76-47 on Sunday. The Monarchs shot a season-best 48.1 percent from the field against the Spartans and scored their second-most points this season. Iggy Allen notched her second double-double of the season, and the 13th of her career, with 15 points and a season-high-matching 15 rebounds. She was 7-of-9 from the foul line.
Ajah Wayne scored a game-high 16 points vs. NSU and now has 1,084 career points. She ranks 29th all-time in scoring at ODU and is one point behind Sharron Francis. Wayne has led ODU in scoring seven times this season and now has 60 games with at least 10 points in her career.
The Monarchs are one of the tightest defensive units in the country this year. ODU enters the weekend ranked sixth nationally and first in C-USA in scoring defense (49.1). The Monarchs are 31st in field goal percentage defense (.343) and 44th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.252). ODU is turning teams over 22.3 times per game (22nd in DI) while averaging the 20th-most steals per game (12.1) in the country.
A pair of key sharpshooters in Taleah Washington and Aziah Hudson have dialed it in from deep. Washington has made six of her last 12 3-pointers and has multiple treys in each of the last two games, including a career-high three vs. NSU. Hudson is 7-of-16 from deep over the past five games and has two 3-pointers in three of those five contests. As a team, ODU is shooting .352 from deep over the last six games.
Scouting Appalachian State
The Mountaineers enter Saturday with a 6-5 record having lost their last two games to Wofford (78-65) and at Davidson (66-48). App State also has a pair of losses to ACC foes North Carolina (89-44) and Duke (73-65).
On offense, the Mountaineers live at the foul line and behind the 3-point arc. Appalachian State ranks 19th nationally in free throw attempts (216) but only converts at a .606 clip. The Mountaineers average just under eight made treys a game (good for 48th nationally) and have taken the fourth-most 3-pointers (306) in Division I. In its most-recent game at Davidson, App State made just four treys on 13 attempts (.308) while going 8-for-20 from the charity stripe.
Defensively, App State hunts turnovers, forcing 21.55 per game, which is 30th in DI. Teams that value the ball can score on the Mountaineers as they rank in the bottom tier of the Sun Belt in field goal percentage defense (.381) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.305).
Three players average double figures in points for App State, led by Michaela Porter's 13.6 per game. She had 22 points and eight rebounds against Davidson on 9-of-14 shooting. The Mountaineer's leading rebounder is Alexia Allesch, who averages 8.1 board per contest to go along with 10.4 points on .526 shooting.
The Series
The two teams are meeting for the second time overall and the first time in over 33 years. ODU is making its first-ever trip to Boone, North Carolina, having won 85-65 inside the Fieldhouse on Nov. 30, 1988.
CLAMPING DOWN
The Monarchs are one of the tightest defensive units in the country this year. ODU enters the weekend ranked sixth nationally and first in C-USA in scoring defense (49.1). The Monarchs are 31st in field goal percentage defense (.343) and 44th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.252). ODU is turning teams over 22.3 times per game (22nd in DI) while averaging the 20th-most steals per game (12.1) in the country.
Only once this season has an ODU opponent scored more than 55 points in a game. Teams have shot 40 percent or better only twice against ODU, and three teams have failed to crack the 30-percent mark.
The Monarchs have turned a team over 20 or more times on five occasions and have forced 30-plus turnovers thrice.
THE TURNING POINT
On Feb. 19, 2021 the Monarchs lost a 74-61 home game to UAB, dropping to 6-9 overall and 3-8 in Conference USA. ODU responded with 37-point win over UAB the following day, starting a run of seven wins over the last nine games of the season. The Monarchs are a combined 15-4 (.778) since the Feb. 19 loss to UAB.
ODU's 15 wins are the second-most by a C-USA team over that span (Rice, 16), and no team in C-USA can match ODU's .789 win percentage.
What's Next
The Monarchs travel to Temple for a noon tip on Dec. 22 in ODU's final nonconference game of the season. Old Dominion opens Conference USA play at home against FIU on Dec. 30 at 6:30 p.m. before hosting Florida Atlantic on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m.
Women’s Basketball Takes Six-Game Win Streak on Road to App State Saturday
