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Women’s Basketball Heads to Towson for WNIT First Round

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NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's basketball team has drawn Towson in the First Round of the Postseason WNIT, tournament officials announced on Monday. Towson will host the Monarchs on Friday at 7 p.m.
 
Old Dominion owns a 23-9 overall record and finished third in the Conference USA East Division with a 13-5 mark in C-USA play. The Monarchs dispatched UTSA in the C-USA Tournament Second Round, 65-45, before seeing a furious and spirited comeback bid fall just short in a 65-58 loss to North Texas in the quarterfinals.
 
The Monarchs are one of the top defensive units in the country, ranking 22nd nationally in scoring defense (55.3 points per game). ODU has turned over its opponents 20.31 times per game, 15th-best in Division I, and are top-80 in the country in field goal percentage defense (37.6, 80th) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (28.5, 70th).
 
ODU features a pair of First Team All-Conference USA performers in Iggy Allen and Ajah Wayne. Allen is seventh in the conference in scoring (14.9) and rebounding (7.7). Wayne is averaging 12.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field. To read more about Wayne's inspiring comeback from an injury to play in Wednesday's North Texas game, click here to read Harry Minium's story.
 
Towson is 24-7 and posted a 14-4 mark in the CAA. The Tigers are led in scoring by Aleah Nelson (16.4 points per game). Anissa Rivera averages 10.5 points and 7.2 rebounds as well.
 
The Monarchs are making their ninth appearance in the WNIT and are 7-8 in the tournament. Old Dominion won the then-National Women's Invitational Tournament in 1978 as a warm-up to back-to-back AIAW national championships in 1979 and 1980. ODU has been a part of the WNIT six times since its rebirth in 1998.
 
Head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones is 2-1 in the WNIT, leading Pepperdine to the Sweet 16 of the 2019 edition.
 
The winner of Friday's game will draw either Columbia or Holy Cross. Game times and locations for the second round will be announced at a later date. For the complete bracket, click here.