Old Dominion (23-9) at Towson (24-7)
Game Info – Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m.
Location – SECU Arena (Towson, Md.)
Watch – YouTube
Listen – ESPN Radio 94.1 FM
Live State – Click Here
Game Notes – ODU
NORFOLK, Va. – An old rivalry is renewed on Friday night, when the Old Dominion women's basketball team travels to former CAA foe Towson for a matchup in the First Round of the WNIT. The 7 p.m. tip is streaming live on YouTube and being carried over the air on ESPN Radio 94.1 FM.
The Starting Five
Iggy Allen and Ajah Wayne received First Team All-Conference USA honors at the end of the regular season, marking the first time ODU landed multiple players on the All-C-USA First Team. Additionally, the Monarchs had not claimed multiple first team honorees since 2004, when Monique Coker and Max Nhassengo were named First Team All-CAA. For Allen, it was the second straight year with first team all-conference honors. Wayne placed on the first team for the first time in her career.
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 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.
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.
The Monarchs are one of the tightest defensive units in the country this year. ODU entered the WNIT ranked 22nd nationally and first in C-USA in scoring defense (55.3). ODU is turning teams over 20.31 times per game (15th in DI, 1st in C-USA) while averaging the 23rd-most steals per game (10.5) in the country. Additionally, ODU is second in the conference with 3.9 blocks per game.
Scouting Towson
Towson enters Friday with a 24-7 overall record. The Tigers went 14-4 in the CAA, finishing third.
Towson dropped a 56-55 decision to eventual champs Delaware in the CAA Tournament Semifinals. Tarriyonna Gary hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to put the Tigers up 55-54, but the Blue Hens sank two foul shots at the death to advance.
Aleah Nelson leads Towson in scoring (16.4 points per game) and assists (5.3). She ranks 13th in the country with a 2.65 assist- to-turnover ratio and is 28th in Division I in assists per game. Her 73 3-pointers rank 34th nationally.
Anissa Rivera averages 10.5 points and a team-best 7.2 rebounds per game. She also averages a block and a steal per contest.
Towson is a hard-nosed team that ranks seventh in rebounding (44.8), 15th in field goal percentage defense (.353) and 36th in blocks per game (4.6). The Tigers are also 24th in DI in scoring offense (74.2) thanks to a heavy diet of free throws, offensive rebounds (15.7 per game, 11th in DI) and 3-pointers (7.0 per game).
The Tigers are 12-2 inside SECU Arena this season with both losses coming to Delaware.
The Series
ODU is 19-1 all-time over its former CAA rival. The Monarchs won the first 14 meetings and are currently on a five-game win streak over the Tigers. Friday night will be the first meeting between the two schools since Old Dominion left the CAA for Conference USA.
What's Next
The winner of Friday's game advances to play Columbia at a time and location yet to be determined.
Women’s Basketball Opens WNIT Run at Towson
