ODU Women's Basketball Honors its Historic Past, Then Edges Marshall in Overtime, 84-82

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – On a day when the Old Dominion women’s basketball program honored its storied past, the Monarchs won a game they had to in order to keep pace with the leaders in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Monarchs saw an 18-point lead slowly disappear in the second half and were then forced to rally in overtime to defeat Marshall, 84-82, Saturday at Chartway Arena.

Simaru Fields made two free throws with six seconds left in overtime to provide the winning points for ODU.

The game was the annual Anne Donovan Classic, named for the former ODU All-American who helped ODU win the 1980 national championship. Donovan passed away in 2018 and half a dozen or so members of Donovan’s family were honored during the first half.

At halftime, ODU retired jersey number 24 worn by two-time All-American Adrienne Goodson in what proved to be a very emotional ceremony. Goodson was a member of the 1985 team that won the Monarchs’ first NCAA national championship.

It was also alumni night, and among the 50 or so former, players, coaches and managers who attended were Wendy Larry, ODU’s winningest all-time coach, and Marianne Stanley, who coached ODU’s three national championship teams.

When presented her replica jersey at halftime from Dr. Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics, Goodson burst into tears. The tears continued as she spoke to the crowd of 2,495.

“To my extended family who stands here before me,” she said to the players and coaches gathered at midcourt, “I love you very much.”

Donovan had a distinguished coaching career that included being named head coach of the 2008 Olympic team, which won a gold medal. ODU Head Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was a member of the 2008 Olympic team.

“There was an aura in the building tonight,” Milton-Jones said. “We had legends here in attendance and it was amazing to honor one of the legendary players in the game and not just here at Old Dominion, but in the game of women’s basketball.

“Anne Donovan was so near and dear to so many people. She was the kindest most gentle person that you ever met with her kind of stature. Anyone you speak to her about will never have an ill word to say about her."

Milton-Jones and her players missed the halftime jersey retirement but spent time with Goodson and others during a reception Friday night at Chartway Arena.

En’Dya Buford, who led ODU with 21 points, said the reception made a huge impression on the Monarchs.

“You don’t get to be around people like that a lot,” she said. “So, for us to have the opportunity to take everything in was amazing. It was a good feeling to be around so much success and all of the legends.”

The victory allowed ODU (12-7 overall, 4-3 Sun Belt) to pull into a sixth-place tie with Southern Miss and stay within range of one of the coveted top four slots in the Sun Belt standings. The Sun Belt Conference tournament pairings greatly reward the top four seeds

Fields had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists for ODU while Simone Cunningham, added 15 points and seven rebounds in nearly 42 minutes of action.

Riley Stack, the 6-foot-4 transfer from Coastal Carolina, added 10 points, including four in overtime, in spite of playing just 13 minutes.

The Herd (15-5 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt) saw their nine-game winning streak, which dated back to Dec. 3, ended in emphatic fashion by James Madison, which crushed Marshall, 80-43, Thursday night in Harrisonburg.

ODU was clearly the dominant team in the first half, as the Monarchs took a 52-35 halftime lead. The Monarchs were red hot from the field, making 69% of their shots, including 30 points that came from layups.

But Marshall tightened up its defense and played with more energy in the third quarter and the Monarchs went stone cold. Cut off from layups by the Marshall defense, ODU was forced to shoot jump shots and went just 7-27 (25.9%) in the second half.

Marshall’s TreShondra Williams made a three-point shot to trim the lead to six, 70-64, midway through the fourth quarter.

The game would be close the rest of the way.

Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, the transfer from VCU who led Marshall with 31 points, made a second-chance layup with 1:22 left to pull the Herd within a point, 70-69.

ODU forced a jump ball with 20.2 seconds left. But the possession arrow favored Marshall, which went to a set play that allowed Lewis-Eutsey to get open for a shot.

She missed but was fouled and made one of two free throws to tie the score at 70-all with 16.8 seconds left.

Buford’s layup attempt with four seconds left rolled out of the basket, sending the game into overtime.

Marshall’s Meredith Maier made a three-pointer with three minutes left in overtime to give the Herd a 79-76 lead.

Stack made four of four free throws and Fields a jump shot to give ODU an 82-79 lead with 12 seconds left.

But four seconds later, Maier made a fallaway three-pointer to tie the score.

Following an ODU timeout, the Monarchs set up Fields to take the final shot. She took the shot but was fouled and made both free throws with six seconds left to give ODU a two-point lead.

With no timeouts left, Marshall was forced to inbound the ball at the ODU end and could not get off a final shot.

“I’m not going to turn my nose up at this win at all,” Milton-Jones said. “I don’t care what the win looked like. We got it and that’s the thing that matters most.”

The Monarchs travel on Wednesday to face Sun Belt leader Arkansas State and will then take on Texas State on Saturday, Jan. 24. They return home on Wednesday, Jan. 28, to host ULM.

Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

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