HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Trademark defense and exceptional play around the basket carried the day for the Old Dominion women's basketball team in its 62-47 win at Marshall on Thursday night. The Monarchs (16-4, 6-2 C-USA) limited the Thundering Herd (11-8, 6-4) to their fewest points at home in 10 years and owned sizeable edges in rebounding, blocks and points in the paint.
Marshall last failed to crack 50 points inside the Cam Henderson Center on Feb. 5, 2012 in a 50-45 loss to UAB. Since then, the Thundering Herd had played 148 home games before Thursday night.
"We are becoming road warriors," head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. "We're winning on the road in hostile environments. We're finding ways, and we're doing it by staying strong to our mantra of defending, rebounding and running."
Old Dominion's defense held Marshall to a .274 shooting percentage, its second-lowest this season. The Herd became the fifth team to shoot less than 30 percent from the field against ODU this season.
"Our defense is not keyed in on stopping one player," Milton-Jones said. "Our defense is keyed in on stopping their team. Each possession we're on the defensive end we have to make sure we are locked in. We did an excellent job of executing the game plan on the defensive end."
The Monarchs were as relentless on offense as they were suffocating on defense. ODU made half of its shot attempts inside the 3-point arc and racked up 30 points in the paint. Brianna Jackson fell one rebound shy of a double-double with a game-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and Amari Young netted 10 points on a 5-of-6 clip for her fourth outing with double-digits in the past five games.
ODU looked to Jackson early, and she scored the first six points of the game. Her final layup sparked a 5-0 run, and the Monarchs led 9-5 with 3:32 left to play. After that, Marshall netted six unanswered to climb back in front, 11-9, with under 90 seconds left in the quarter. Aziah Hudson accounted for the last four points of the quarter, all from the foul line, as ODU took a 13-11 advantage into the second.
"Jackson has answered the call each time we have asked her to deliver," Milton-Jones said. "I am so pleased with her play and with our ability to execute and get her the ball when we need it the most. She is the enforcer. She is the one that can disrupt a lot of things on both ends of the court."
The Monarchs found their range in the second quarter, shooting 6-of-13 from the floor and building a 30-19 halftime lead. Young paced ODU in the period, scoring six points on 3-of-3 shooting. Up 17-14 with 8:26 to go, Old Dominion outscored Marshall 13-5 to close out the half. Hudson gave the Monarchs their first double-digit advantage of the night inside the final 30 seconds with her first 3-pointer of the game.
Hudson scored seven of her season-best 12 points in the first half. She made three of her six shots from the field and was 2-of-4 from deep as well as a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line.
ODU turned to Jackson to start the second half, and once again the native of Virginia Beach answered the bell. Jackson scored the first five points of the half, including an old-fashioned three-point play to make the score 35-19 after 90 seconds, but the Monarchs went quiet for nearly three minutes after. Young broke the scoring drought with a layup at the 5:45 mark to put Old Dominion ahead by 17 at 37-20 – its largest lead of the game.
However, the pendulum shifted in Marshall's favor after the Young layup. The Herd made four 3-pointers in the final five-plus minutes of the quarter after managing just one up to that point.
Kennedi Colclough hit a trey with 3:51 left on the clock to pull the hosts to within 11, 39-28. The Monarchs worked the lead back to 16, including three points in less than 20 seconds by Amhyia Moreland, before Marshall scored the next five. Savannah Wheeler, C-USA's leading scorer, hit her first field goal at the 1:41 mark, and Aaliyah Dunham followed with a triple to make it a 44-33 game. Iggy Allen answered with a pull-up 3-pointer with 47 seconds to go, but Wheeler ended the quarter with another trey to send the game into the fourth quarter at 47-36.
Wheeler scored six points in the third. Marshall shot 6-of-14 from the field and was 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Dunham sank a pair of treys in the period.
The Herd continued their push into the fourth quarter, eventually cutting the deficit to 52-43 on a Wheeler trey, but Marshall would score only four more points in the last 7:30 as ODU pulled away. After two Wheeler foul shots at the 6:10 mark, Old Dominion scored the next five to go up 62-45. Mariah Adams' free throw with 2:41 to play would be the final point of the game for the Monarchs, but Marshall managed just two more points to close out the game.
After being outrebounded in the first half, the Monarchs locked down the glass in the second and finished the game with a 46-36 edge on the boards. Over the past six games, ODU is averaging 42.8 rebounds per game. Additionally, Old Dominion parleyed 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points.
ODU blocked six shots on Thursday, including three from Jackson. Jackson now has six games with three blocks this season.
The Monarchs received significant contributions from their bench. Hudson scored 12 and added one steal. Kaye Clark pulled down a personal-best six boards and matched her career high with two blocks. Joy Campbell scored a timely bucket to blunt Marshall's advance in the fourth quarter, and Moreland finished with three points, three boards, one steal and one block.
"The second unit are our second starters," Milton-Jones said. "That's the mentality of our bench. They understand that they have to make a difference."
Wheeler, who entered Thursday averaging better than 20 points per game, finished with 15 on 4-of-10 shooting with five turnovers. Since the Monarchs began conference play, they have held the opposing team's leading scorer below their season average six times.
Old Dominion will put its defense to the test once more against WKU on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. The Lady Toppers are the highest-scoring team in Conference USA.
Women’s Basketball Grinds Down Marshall, 62-47
