Old Dominion (19-5, 9-3 C-USA) vs. Marshall (12-10, 7-6 C-USA)
Game Info – Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Location – Chartway Arena (Norfolk, Va.)
Watch – CUSA.tv
Listen – Money Talk 1310 AM, 100.9 FM and 97.3 HD2
Live Stats – Click Here
Game Notes – ODU
Old Dominion vs. WKU
Game Info – Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m.
Location – Chartway Arena (Norfolk, Va.)
Watch – CUSA.tv
Listen – ESPN Radio 94.1 FM
Live Stats – Click Here
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's basketball team nears the end of the regular season with two home games against Marshall on Thursday (6:30 p.m.) and WKU on Saturday (2p.m.). Saturday's game with WKU will also serve as Senior Day and Hoops for the Cure. Both games are streaming live on CUSA.tv. The Marshall game will air live on Money Talk 1310 AM, 100.9 FM and 97.3 HD2, and the WKU game will be carried on ESPN Radio 94.1 FM.
The Starting Five
On Feb. 14, head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was announced as a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022. Milton-Jones boasts an accolade-filled career in the game. She received the Wade Trophy in 1997 as the best player in college basketball and won two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA titles. She is the seventh individual with ODU ties to reach the hall and is just the 13th active DI head coach in the WBHOF.
ODU shot 50 percent from the field and made 11 of its 19 attempts from 3-point range in an 81-75 win at UAB on Sunday afternoon. The Monarchs had their highest-scoring conference game this season and posted the second-most points in a game this year. ODU's .500 percentage from the floor was its second highest this season, and its 11 treys and .545 shooting percentage from deep were both season highs.
Iggy Allen had a season-high 29 points at UAB and set a new personal best with six made 3-pointers. On Monday, Conference USA named Allen its Player of the Week for the second time this season.
The Monarchs are one of the tightest defensive units in the country this year. ODU entered Wednesday ranked 11th nationally and first in C-USA in scoring defense (53.8). The Monarchs are 41st in field goal percentage defense (.364) and 36th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.275), good for first and fifth in C-USA, respectively. ODU is turning teams over 21.17 times per game (14th in DI, 1st in C-USA) while averaging the 24th-most steals per game (10.8) in the country. Additionally, ODU is tops in the conference and 37th in DI with 4.5 blocks per game.
On Feb. 19, 2021 the Monarchs sat at 6-9 overall and 3-8 in Conference USA before ending the season with seven wins in their last nine games. The Monarchs are a combined 26-7 (.788) since that Feb. 19 loss to UAB. Those are the most wins by a C-USA team over that span, and no team in C-USA can match ODU's win percentage since Feb. 19.
Scouting Marshall
The Thundering Herd brings a 12-10 overall record with a 7-6 mark in conference games into Thursday. Marshall is just 1-5 in its last six games.
The Thundering Herd ended a five-game skid with a 60-48 win over UTEP on Sunday. Savannah Wheeler and Aaliyah Dunham shared the game high with 16 points, and Lorelei Roper notched eight points and 12 rebounds.
Wheeler is second in C-USA with 20.0 points per game and ranks third in 3-point field goals made (46), 3-point field goal percentage (.346), free throws made (111) and foul shooting percentage (.816).
Dunham paces the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.49) and averages 4.0 assists and 2.05 steals per game.
Roper sits just outside the top-10 with 7.0 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Herd commits the fewest turnovers in C-USA.
Scouting WKU
The Lady Toppers are currently second in the C-USA East Division, just percentage points ahead of ODU and Middle Tennessee. WKU is 17-7 overall and 10-3 in conference play and plays at Charlotte on Thursday night.
WKU is on a three-game winning streak following an 81-70 win over UTSA on Sunday. Meral Abdelgawad posted a 28-point, 10-rebound double-double, going 8-of-10 from the field and 11-of-13 from the foul line. Macey Blevins chipped in 12 points and knocked down three 3-pointers.
Abdelgawad leads the conference and is 16th in Division I in scoring at 20.3 points per game. She ranks third in C-USA and top-30 nationally with a 54.1 field goal percentage and has made the second-most foul shots in the conference.
Blevins is top-10 in the conference with 1.79 made 3-pointers per game.
The Lady Toppers are first in the conference in scoring (72.8) and 3-point field goal percentage (.327) and are second in field goal percentage (.428).
The Series
ODU and Marshall are playing for the 17th time all-time and the second time this season. The Monarchs are 11-5 against the Thundering Herd.
The Monarchs held Marshall to its fewest points at home in 10 years in a 62-47 win on Feb. 3. ODU held the Herd to a .274 shooting percentage and limited Savannah Wheeler, C-USA's leading scorer at the time, to 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting with five turnovers.
Brianna Jackson scored a season-high 15 points, pulled down nine boards and blocked three shots. Aziah Hudson came off the bench to score a season-best 12 points and was 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
ODU is 12-18 all-time against the Lady Toppers. The Monarchs' five-game winning streak over WKU ended on Feb. 5 with a 71-57 loss in Bowling Green. Old Dominion trailed by as many as 26 points in the first half but opened the third quarter on a 19-1 run to pull to within three. Allen led the way for the Monarchs with 22 points and eight rebounds.
What's Next
The Monarchs fly south for games with Florida Atlantic on Feb. 24 and FIU on Feb. 26. After that, ODU hosts LA Tech on March 2 in its final home game of the season before closing out its conference slate at Middle Tennessee on March 5. The Monarchs will be guaranteed of a top-two finish in the East and a double-bye in the upcoming C-USA Tournament should they win their final six regular season contests.'
Women’s Basketball Hits Closing Stretch vs. Marshall, WKU
