MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Old Dominion women's basketball team lost 62-44 at Middle Tennessee in the final regular season contest for both sides.
"We started the game, and we were so anxious," head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. "We were so anxious that we weren't taking what was obviously there. At one point of the game we settled in, but we had too many holes defensively."
Brianna Jackson paced the Monarchs (22-8, 12-6 C-USA) with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four rebounds and a steal. Mariah Adams had nine points and three boards.
The Lady Raiders (22-6, 14-4) led 9-4 after a defensive first quarter. The game did not see its first points scored until nearly the midway point of the quarter when Anastasiia Boldyreva scored to start a 7-0 run by the hosts. Ashanti Barnes-Williams put the first points on the board for ODU at the 1:29 mark, and Mariah Adams closed out the quarter with a late jumper.
Barnes-Williams was active early in the second quarter as the Monarchs pulled to within a point. The freshman from Norfolk, Virginia corralled an offensive rebound then kicked it out for a 3-pointer by Kaylen Nelson. Barnes-Williams then attacked the rim aggressively, drew two foul shots and hit one to make it a 9-8 score with 7:31 to play in the half. Courtney Whitson and Adams then traded jumpers before Middle Tennessee went on an 8-0 run to take a 19-10 lead with 3:23 to go. The ODU deficit reached 10 points twice before Aziah Hudson hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to make it a 24-17 game after 20 minutes.
Brianna Jackson began the second half with a personal 5-0 run to bring the Monarchs back to within a possession. She converted an old-fashioned 3-point play just 19 seconds into the half before knocking down a baseline jumper less than a minute later to pull Old Dominion to within two, 24-22. MTSU hit three 3-pointers in the third and led by 10, 37-27, at the end of the frame.
The Lady Raiders sank four more 3-pointers in the fourth and ended the game with 10 triples. Whitson had three as part of a game-high 16 points.
With the loss on Saturday, the Monarchs drop to third place in the Conference USA East Division and will play in the second round of the C-USA Tournament on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Monarchs will draw the winner of Tuesday's first round matchup between No. 6 UTEP and No. 7 UTSA. The complete championship bracket will be released later on Saturday night.
Women’s Basketball Drops Season Finale at Middle Tennessee, 62-44
