CINCINNATI – A late fourth-quarter run wasn't enough as Old Dominion women's basketball dropped its road game at Xavier 65-49 Saturday at Cintas Center.
Amari Young led the Monarchs (2-2) in the loss with seven points, five rebounds, one assist and a block. Makayla Dickens, Kaye Clark, Brianna Jackson, Althea Kara Angeles and Taleah Washington all finished with five points. Brenda Fontana had a team-high three assists to go along with four points. On defense, Joy Campbell collected three steals while Jackson and Washington also recorded one block each.
As a team, ODU shot 17-for-64 (.266) from the floor, 2-for-16 (.125) from beyond the arc and 13-for-27 (.481) at the free-throw line.
"Shooting woes hurt us from every angle on the court today," said head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. "Missing 14 layups and 14 free throws against a Power 5 level team is not going to bring success. We had 17 possessions more than our opponent, but we couldn't connect with the basket consistently enough to spark the necessary runs to get us back into the game. Going scoreless for almost seven minutes of play dug a hole for us mentally and emotionally."
Xavier opened the game with eight straight points before a layup from Jackson got ODU going. Dickens later cut the home team's lead in half at 10-5 as she drew contact on a made basket and converted her ensuing free throw. A late three-pointer from Jatyjia Jones got the Monarchs back to within two at 16-14, but Xavier made a three of its own with three seconds to go as the Musketeers (4-0) led 19-14 after the opening quarter.
ODU was held to just nine points in the second quarter. Dickens connected on a jumper early and Fontana went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe to cut the deficit to four at 21-17. From there, the Monarchs were held scoreless for 6:39 as the Musketeers used a 10-0 run to pull away, 31-17. Young then got ODU back on the board with a free throw and a second-chance layup, and Clark knocked down a long-range shot. Down 33-23, Jones had a look at a layup with 33 seconds to go in the half, but Xavier got the rebound and shot another long ball to take a 36-23 lead into the locker room.
The Monarchs were limited to single digits again with nine points in the third quarter. ODU struggled to put together any runs until Jackson made a pair of freebies and Young sank a turnaround jumper. That made it 49-32, Xavier with 1:55 in the quarter. The Musketeers then closed out the third with another five unanswered.
ODU finally started to click in the fourth, but it wasn't enough to catch the Musketeers. Angeles made 1-of-2 shots at the line, then stole the ball and put up a fast-break layup. That made it 62-44 with 3:23 to go. Fontana earned a trip to the line and converted both of her attempts, then got to the line again with 2:32 left, making one of two shots. Mikayla Brown then capped off the 8-0 run as the Monarchs trailed 62-49 at the 2:05 mark. Xavier made a three ball with 1:07 remaining to round out the scoring.
Up next for ODU is a road game at Elon University this Tuesday, Nov. 22. Tipoff against the Phoenix is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST at Elon's Schar Center.
"We will take this game and dissect it to truly see how we get back to our winning ways," added Milton-Jones. "We are a much better team than we displayed."
Game Notes
- This was the first meeting between the two programs.
- Brown's four points mark the first of her career.
- ODU's 49 points scored marks a season low.
- The Monarchs caused a season-high 31 turnovers, turning that into 19 points.
- ODU's bench outscored Xavier's, 28-8.
Monarchs Stumble at Xavier, 65-49
