WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Old Dominion women’s basketball secured a late 56-53 victory against William & Mary on Sunday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. Simaru Fields made a go-ahead three pointer with 1:26 remaining to give the Monarchs a three-point lead in the dying embers.
The Monarchs (3-1) went down by two points after W&M’s (1-3) Cassidy Geddes made a jumper with 2:30 remaining in the game. Simone Cunningham then got herself to the free throw line and made both of her shots to knot the game at 53 each. Fields then made the final shot of the game to go up 56-53. Geddes would have a chance to send the game to overtime with one second left, but her shot went off the mark and the Monarchs’ third-straight victory was secured.
“We had to grind this game out,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “We're still trying to gel and figure some things out as a new team, while we present ourselves differently every single game. But for us to still be able to come out with wins and scrap our way through it, that really shows me a lot about how good we really can be.”
ODU had a slow start in the opening quarter with nine points. The Monarchs got off to an 8-2 start, culminated by a En’Dya Buford three-pointer at the 5:55 mark, but the Silver and Blue would only score one point the remainder of the quarter. Two made layups by Jana Sallman at 2:47 and 1:34 gave the Tribe its first lead of the game. Sallman would score one final time with 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give the Tribe a 12-9 edge.
ODU conceded a three-point field goal to W&M’s Dynasti Pierce at 8:38 in the second quarter. Fields willed the Monarchs back into the game with a pair of free throws to cut the Tribe lead to four, then she nailed a transition three-pointer to put the Monarchs within one point. Fields, a native of Gulfport, Miss., then made a two-point jump shot to give ODU its first lead of the second quarter with 6:58 remaining. Sallman made a layup, but Fields would answer with another jump shot to regain the lead. Nevaeh Scott would be the next Monarch to step up when the game was close. She made her first shot with a fastbreak-and-one layup at 3:30 and converted from the line. She then made 1-of-2 free throws to go up by three at 3:05, 22-19. Kyah Smith would make a layup to put the Tribe within one, but the Coastal Carolina transfer students would make the rest of the quarter their own. Riley Stack scored to put ODU back up by three and Dalanna Carter made the last field goal either team would score in the first half when she netted a corner three pointer on the fastbreak to go up, 27-21 at halftime.
William & Mary fought their way back in the third quarter. W&M guard Monet Dance made a fastbreak layup and made two free throws to cut the Tribe’s deficit to six points with 8:24 remaining, 30-24. Buford responded with a three to put ODU back up by nine 20 seconds later, then W&M’s Natalie Fox made a fastbreak layup to bring it back to a seven-point lead. Geddes netted a three-point shot with 6:30 remaining in the third and Alexa Mikeska made a layup at 6:14 to cut ODU’s lead to four points. A minute later, Dance would score another fastbreak layup to make the score 35-33. Geddes would go to the free throw line at 5:11 and make both her shots to knot the game at 35-35 and then scored a fastbreak layup to give the Tribe a two-point lead with 4:55 in the third. Fields would stop the bleeding with a pullup midrange jumper to tie things up again.
W&M’s Smith netted a jumper and Mikeska made two free throws to give the Tribe a four-point lead with 2:33 remaining. ULM transfer forward Laila Walker would go to the line and convert both her free throws, 41-39. Smith scored the last basket of the third quarter with five seconds remaining to give the Tribe a four-point lead heading into the fourth, 43-39.
Cunningham would make 1-out-of-2 free throws to open the final quarter and cut the deficit to three points. Buford then scored a fastbreak layup to cut it to one before Fields came through clutch with another fastbreak bucket, this time it was a free throw line jumper to regain the lead. Fox would make a tip in to take back the lead again as the Tribe and Monarchs would go back and forth down the stretch. Fields responded with a jumper to knot the score at 46. Dance made 1-of-2 free throws to take a one-point lead with 6:19 remaining but Riley Stack would go to the line 30 seconds later and make both her shots to go up, 48-47. Sallman made 1-out-of-2 free throws and a layup to go up by three with 4:27 remaining. Buford then hit a clutch three pointer to tie the game back up with 3:42 left in the fourth quarter. Geddes netted a jumper to give the Tribe a two-point lead at the 2:06 mark, 53-51 then Cunningham went back to the line and made both shots to tie it and Fields made her second and final three of the game to go up, 56-53 and win the game.
“The most dangerous part about William & Mary is their ability to shoot the three,” said Milton-Jones. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight. They were 2-18 from the three-point line. We were 8-20. And finally, the ball is going in for us, like I would like for it to and that was able to help us sustain some type of a lead, get back into the game, and eventually win. Our first road trip of the year against a tough team. They won their conference last year. My goodness, we had a lot to lose at this moment, and I'm glad that our willpower superseded everything that was going on on the court.”
Fields and Buford paced the offense for 35 points between the two guards. Nevaeh Scott tacked on five points, Cunningham had three, and Carter made one three pointer. ODU grabbed 49 rebounds with 21 offensive rebounds, shot 40% from the three-point line, and 71% from the free throw line. ODU’s defense held the Tribe to 32.2% shooting from the field and 11.1% from behind the arc. Sallman had a Tribe-high 14 points in the losing effort.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs head to Greenville, N.C. to match up against the East Carolina Pirates at Williams Arena on Friday, Nov. 21 at 11 a.m.