HUNTINGTON, W.VA. – Jordan McLaughlin scored a season-high 21 points and Old Dominion women's basketball earned its 20th win of the season as the Monarchs rallied for a 66-63 victory at Marshall on Wednesday night at the Cam Henderson Center.
A junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, McLaughlin also set a new season best with three made shots from the perimeter. She finished the night shooting 8-for-13 from the floor, 3-for-4 from distance, and a perfect 2-for-2 at the free-throw line. McLaughlin pulled down six rebounds and added three assists and two steals to her final line.
On McLaughlin's performance, head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said, "If it had not been for the play of Jordan, we wouldn't be on the winning side of this game tonight. The poise, the tempo, the aggressiveness. Asserting herself at the right moments in the best ways. The stern positive talk that she was giving her teammates, they had no choice but to follow suit. She was the tempo today, she set the tone and she was the one that saved the day for us."
"I knew how much we needed this win coming off the loss to JMU, and now it's really about standings and we're really fighting to get one of those top four spots," said McLaughlin. "I was playing for a lot. I was playing for two of my closest friends who I lost this week. They really were the motivation for me and I knew my teammates had my back. I decided to give it my all and I knew the court was going to be my safe haven."
Also scoring in double figures were Brianna Jackson with 12 points and Kaye Clark with 11. Amari Young led the Monarchs (20-10, 12-5) on the glass with 12 boards and contributed seven points, while Makayla Dickens chipped in eight points.
Jackson scored ODU's first six points to give the Monarchs an early 6-5 lead. After a pair of Marshall scores, a pair of fastbreak buckets from Young and McLaughlin allowed ODU to retake the lead at 10-9. After a tie at 11-11, McLaughlin knocked down a three-pointer out of the 4:58 media timeout. The Thundering Herd (15-13, 8-9) pulled even again at 16-16 and 18-18 before a Mahogany Matthews layup gave the hosts control 20-19 at the end of the first quarter.
Marshall outscored ODU, 8-2 to start the second quarter and pushed their lead to eight at 31-23 with 2:39 to play in the first half. Another long ball cut the deficit to 31-26, but the Monarchs went into the locker room trailing 35-28.
ODU trimmed the Marshall lead to 39-37 in the third thanks to a deep ball from Clark and a layup by Jackson. The Herd pulled away again, though, going up 48-40 at the 3:59 mark. Young then started a 6-0 response with a jumper. Both sides traded baskets from there as ODU was down by two, 52-50 heading into the final 10 minutes.
McLaughlin's third three of the evening put the Monarchs in front 53-52 at the start of the fourth. Marshall's Roshala Scott answered in kind, but McLaughlin scored again to knot the game at 55-55 with 8:55 remaining. Neither side scored again until the 6L20 mark when a McLaughlin basket gave ODU a 57-55 lead, but Matthews came up with the equalizer on the Herd's next possession. Matthews later got to the line with 2:31 to go, and a 2-for-2 effort put the hosts ahead 61-60. However, McLaughlin came through yet again as her jumper gave ODU the lead with 2:13 left in the game.
Scott missed her attempt from beyond the arc and Abby Beeman could not her shot in the paint to fall. Young grabbed the rebound, and Dickens found Clark for a corner three with 25 seconds on the clock. That created some separation at 65-61, and both sides began to use their timeouts to advance the ball. A Scott layup got Marshall to within 65-63, but Young was fouled and converted 1-of-2 free throws with six seconds to play. Scott got off a last-second attempt from the perimeter, but it was off the mark and ODU held on for the win.
On her mindset in the fourth quarter, McLaughlin said, "I could not lose. I couldn't let my team down. I knew that they were all looking at me and they all have my back. They said 'If you go, we go.'"
"I think our fans back home should be proud and they should know that the same way we're trying to protect our house when we're playing at home, we're trying to be road warriors," added Milton-Jones. "The same grittiness that they see us play with at home, it travels with us and we're representing our university in the best fashion possible. Everyone understands that when you play us, it's going to be physical, it's going to be fast and it's going to be tenacious."
The Monarchs close out the regular season at Coastal Carolina this Friday. First tip from the HTC Center is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Game Notes
- ODU is now in a four-way tie for second place heading into its final conference game. Texas State, Southern Miss, and Troy are also 12-5 in Sun Belt play.
- The game featured seven ties and 14 lead changes.
- ODU held the lead for just over eight minutes (8:14).
- The Monarchs have now reached 20 or more wins in four of the last seasons.
- With the win, ODU is now 13-6 all-time when playing Marshall.
- ODU scored more points off turnovers (11-8), more points in the paint (36-34), and more second-chance points (11-4).
- It was the 12th time this season McLaughlin has scored in double figures. Tonight was the fifth double-digit outing of the season for Jackson and the 13th for Clark.
- Young now has 1,134 career rebounds and moves into sole possession of fifth place on the program's all-time leading rebounders list. The North Augusta, South Carolina native needs 33 more to pull even with Nancy Lieberman.
McLaughlin Scores Season-High 21 Points as ODU Wins 66-63 at Marshall
