JONESBORO, Ark. – Kaye Clark finished with 18 points, Makayla Dickens and Amari Young followed with 16 points each and Old Dominion women's basketball earned an 87-75 win at Arkansas State on Saturday night at First National Bank Arena.
"I felt that we shot the ball really well today," said head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. "On defense, we could have worked on some things here and there. But all in all we came and got a road win and it was a much-needed win because we completed the series on the road trip. We won Thursday, we won Saturday. We're feeling good about ourselves going into next week."
Clark shot 6-for-8 from the field, including 2-for-4 from distance, and 4-for-6 at the free-throw line. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native also had four rebounds with two assists and two steals. Dickens also went 6-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-4 from long range while converting both of her charity shots. Her other totals included one board and one assist. Young turned in a 6-for-10 shooting effort and made 4-of-5 shots at the line. The senior collected five rebounds with two steals. Jatyjia Jones contributed nine points and Brenda Fontana scored eight points with a team-high seven rebounds.
"We've been working on this game for a long time and talking about it, so we just had to lock in today," Fontana said afterwards. "We did a lot of work on box-out drills during the week, so it was just a payoff for that work. I think it was good teamwork, honestly."
The Monarchs (16-9, 8-4 Sun Belt) combined to shoot 32-for-61 (.525) from the field, 7-for-18 (.389) from three-point range, and 16-for-22 (.727) at the line.
A three-pointer by A-State's Leilani Augmon gave the Red Wolves (7-16, 2-10) an early 8-4 lead with 6:39 to play in the first quarter. However, a Young layup opened a 13-0 spurt for the Monarchs and ODU never looked back. The teams traded points the rest of the quarter and ODU led 27-13 after the first 10 minutes.
"That felt good," added Milton-Jones. "We haven't had a good start in a long time and that was something that we really had a lot of conversations about. But us starting well isn't just on the offensive end. It starts on the defensive end, which sets the blaze for what we do offensively. And it showed tonight."
The Monarchs continued to pull away in the second quarter. A Fontana basket put ODU up by 16 (37-21) at the 4:50 mark. After a couple of made free throws by Augmon, the Argentine scored another layup to make it 39-23 with 4:36 to go in the first half. A-State cut the deficit down to single digits with a 9-0 run, but Clark and Young put together a 10-0 response as the Monarchs led 49-32 at halftime.
ODU went up by as many as 20 points in the third quarter. Jones got her three-point attempt to fall and Taleah Washington followed up with a 1-for-2 effort at the stripe to put the Monarchs ahead, 65-45. The Red Wolves then outscored ODU 6-2 over the final 1:45 to trail 69-53 heading into the final quarter.
A-State got some momentum early in the fourth as the hosts put together an 11-0 push. That spurt trimmed ODU's lead to 69-64 with 5:38 remaining in the game. That's when Jada Duckett ended the drought with a bucket in the paint, opening up a 10-0 response that was punctuated by a Dickens three-pointer. The Red Wolves were able to get back to within 81-72 with 1:22 on the clock, but effective shooting at the line helped sealed the victory for the Monarchs. A-State was forced to start fouling as Dickens went 2-for-2, Jordan McLaughlin also went 2-for-2 and Clark shot 2-for-4.
"The issue of them shooting that well in the second half is because of us becoming undisciplined in what we were doing defensively," commented Milton-Jones. "We were rather stingy in the first half and they had to take a lot of contested shots and the score indicated that. But then when they started getting wide-open looks or they're getting into their tendencies, that's when the game became easier for them. They started making shots at a higher rate of efficiency, and that helped their percentage to balloon on the positive side."
The Monarchs are back at Chartway Arena for the next two weeks. ODU will host Georgia Southern for a 6:30 p.m. game next Thursday. Georgia State then comes to Norfolk, Virginia next Saturday in what will be ODU's Hoops for the Cure game. Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 2 p.m.
"We have big expectations and we talk a lot about it in practice during the week," said Fontana. "We know we have to lock in and work accordingly."
Game Notes
- ODU's 27 points in the first ties its most productive quarter of the season. The Monarchs scored 27 in the second quarter at Elon on Nov. 22 and scored 27 in the third quarter at Georgia State on Jan. 21.
- The Red Wolves made all four of the three-point attempts in the first half and finished the game 7-for-10 (.700) from beyond the arc.
- The 87 points mark a new season best. ODU's previous high was an 84-82 overtime win at Georgia Southern on Jan. 12. It's also the most points since the Monarchs defeated Charlotte 90-89 in double-overtime during the 2021 Conference USA quarterfinals.
- There is now a five-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt standings. Troy leads the league with a 10-2 mark in league play while James Madison, Texas State, Southern Miss, ODU and Louisiana are all 8-4.
- Clark was one point shy of matching her season best of 19.
- Young has now scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games.
- Fontana tied her season high in points and set a new season best in rebounds.
- ODU shot 11-for-15 (.733) from the field and 3-for-4 (.750) from distance in the first quarter.
- ODU scored more points off turnovers (22-17) and more points off the bench (29-13).
- The Monarchs held the lead for 35:09, compared to just 3:27 by the Red Wolves.
Three Score in Double Figures as Monarchs Win 87-75 at Arkansas State
