GREENVILLE, N.C. - Old Dominion women’s basketball defeated the East Carolina Pirates, 73-67 at the Williams Arena on Friday, Nov. 21. Simone Cunningham tied her career high in points (23) and blocks (4) in the winning effort.
“For us to come into this hostile territory on Education Day with the team that we have, we are used to having 20 more possessions than our opponent, but they were the ones with almost 20 more possessions than us,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “And they got 22 offensive rebounds? For us to still come away with the win, I’m going to take it, run with it, and be happy about it.”
Old Dominion (4-1) trailed by three points after ECU’s (2-3) Jayla Hearp scored a basket in the paint with 6:43 left in the first. Cunningham would work her way to the line and cut the Monarchs’ deficit to one point. En’Dya Buford would regain the Monarchs’ lead thanks to a second-chance three pointer with 6:08 remaining. After a back and forth from both teams, Dalanna Carter leveled the game again with a jump shot, 15-15 with 1:26 remaining. ODU would go on a 6-1 run to finish the quarter with buckets coming from Cunningham and Mariah Clayton.
The Monarchs’ first basket in the second quarter would come from Nevaeh Scott, she made 1-of-2 free throws and then converted a fastbreak layup to go up by six, 24-18. Kennedy Fauntleroy scored a basket in the paint and Buford made another three to take a seven-point lead, 27-20. Zaniah Zellous would cut into the Pirates’ deficit with a made three of her own on the next possession, 27-23. With 4:21 remaining Kelsey Thompson scored a fastbreak layup forced by the Monarchs’ full court press. Scott netted her first three pointer for ODU at 3:47 to extend the ODU lead to 12. Hearp went 1-for-2 at the free throw line on the next possession and Carter would score the final basket of the second quarter with 1:13 remaining to go up by 11, 40-27 as the game went to halftime.
ECU trimmed the Monarchs' lead to nine with 7:31 remaining in the third quarter. ODU would quickly respond as Fields netted a three pointer, Cunningham scored on a fast break, Hutton responded with a hookshot in the paint, and Cunningham scored a second chance layup to bring ODU’s lead to 14. Fields then put in a pullup midrange jumper to give ODU its biggest lead of the game, 52-35. ECU cut the deficit to 10 after Anzhane Hutton hit a shot from behind the arc with 3:19 in the third, but ODU would grow the lead back to 17. Buford and Cunningham both made 2-of-2 free throws and Carter scored a layup plus one on a fast break, then converted the free throw to put ODU up 60-43 with 1:56 remaining. ECU would close out the third quarter on a 5-0 run to go into the fourth down, 60-51.
ECU’s Savannah Brooks opened the scoring in the final quarter on a transition layup to trim ODU’s lead to seven, 60-53 at the 8:09 mark. At 5:15, Buford scored on a second chance layup and Cunningham at 3:45 would convert both her free throws to go back up by 10. With 1:20 left, ECU made a final push towards tying the game. Bobbi Smith made a jumper in the paint and Brooks scored a tip-in layup to make the score 70-65. ODU’s Thompson would go to the charity stripe after an intentional foul, and she made both to go back up by seven. Hutton scored a layup with 22 seconds remaining and ODU’s Scott would go 1-for-2 at the line. Two missed three pointers by Brooks would end the game, 73-67.
“We knew that they defensively have length and can ground on the floor,” said Milton-Jones. “But in 1-on-1 situations, we knew that we could get downhill and get some good looks and I was really pleased with our ability to attack black, which means to get two feet in the paint and be able to find good plays for the self or for others.”
Cunningham would finish with 23 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and one steal on the night. Buford was ODU’s second leading scorer with 12 points and two made threes, she grabbed eight rebounds and provided six assists while forcing three steals. Riley Stack had a game high five blocks and chipped in four points and five rebounds. Nevaeh Scott had a season high eight points and dished three assists while grabbing three rebounds.
ODU shot 43% from the field and 26.7% from behind the arc. The Monarchs have shot well at the free throw line for all five of their games so far and tonight they shot 78% from the charity stripe. Old Dominion grabbed 45 rebounds in total with 13 offensive rebounds. ODU forced ECU into 16 turnovers, and the Monarchs scored 20 points from them. The Monarchs had 16 second chance points and 17 bench points. ODU scored 36 points in the paint and 14 fast break points. Old Dominion held the lead for 32:16 minutes of the game.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion heads to Frisco, Texas to compete in the 2025 Hoopfest held at Comerica Center. The Monarchs take on Texas Tech on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and Oregon on Thursday, Nov. 27 at noon.