NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion women’s basketball had four-out-of-five starters finish in double figures and was fueled by a combined 42 points between En’Dya Buford and Riley Stack en route to the Monarchs’ first Sun Belt Conference win, 87-84 against Georgia Southern in double overtime on Thursday afternoon.
“Tonight's win was gutsy and displayed a level of toughness that’s good for any team that’s striving to continue to grow as the season continues along,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “We had stellar performances from En’Dya Buford, Riley Stack, Simone Cunningham, Simaru Fields and Nevaeh Scott. Our fans filled the arena with great energy, and it was awesome to open up 2026 with a conference win.”
The Monarchs (9-5, 1-1 SBC) opened the second overtime period by winning the jump ball, 16 seconds later Buford would score a layup to go in front, 77-75. A bad pass turnover by GS’ (9-4, 2-1 SBC) Shanti Simmons was intercepted by Stack who started a fastbreak that Simone Cunningham finished, 79-75 at 3:55. Simmons was fouled on the next possession and got herself to the charity stripe and made both to put GS within two points. Stack would force her way in the paint and drew a foul the next time down the court and netted both attempts, 81-77. Mckenna Eddings trimmed the Monarch lead back down to two after Simmons grabbed an offensive rebound for the second chance bucket.
Georgia Southern would take the lead, 83-81 with 1:23 left after a pair of made free throws by Simmons. Kelsey Thompson scored two points on the night but the two points she had were massive. With 1:01 remaining she missed a layup in the paint and grabbed the offensive rebound, went back up again, and missed, fought, and grabbed a second offensive rebound, and eventually scored to knot the game at 83-83. Cunningham would make a huge block on a Simmons layup the next possession and after a timeout by GS, the ATO led to a contested shot by Simmons defended by Cunningham that went off the mark with 33 seconds left. Nevaeh Scott hustled down the court and was fouled from behind by Eddings with ODU in the bonus. Scott rimmed out the first attempt, but the second attempt was true and rolled into the net, 84-83 with 28 seconds.
Cunningham made another crucial block on the next possession, this time a layup by Destiny Garrett was sent into the stands and Georgia Southern called their final timeout of the night to talk things over. Garrett had the play drawn up for her but missed the layup and Stack secured the board. Milton-Jones called her final timeout and Simaru Fields was fouled on the inbounds play, made 1-of-2 at the line to go up 85-83. Stack was called for a foul on the GS entry pass and sent Kishyah Anderson to the line to tie things up again. She made the first but the second rimmed out and Fields secured the rebound and went 2-2 at the line to ice the game, 87-84. With 1 second remaining, a final heave by Simmons hit off the front of the rim and ODU won its first Sun Belt game on the first day of 2026.
ODU won the jump ball and opened the afternoon on a 6-0 run. Scott opened the scoring with a made jumper in the paint. Stack finished a layup in the paint off an assist from Fields. The senior guard from Gulfport, Miss. made a jumper in the paint a few possessions later to cap off the run. Buford got called for a foul the next time down and Anderson netted two free throws, 6-2 at 7:15.
The Monarchs ended the first quarter on a 6-0 run to go up by eight, Fields found the bottom of the net from the wing with 59 seconds left and Buford made a three with less than two seconds to end the opening stanza.
ODU grew its lead to nine (32-23) midway through the second quarter after three made free throws, two by Buford and one from Stack with 5:54 left. The Silver and Blue went up by 11 two minutes later after a second chance jumper by Stack rattled home. Garrett scored the final basket of the half with 1:14 remaining to go into halftime, 40-32.
Old Dominion went on an 8-0 run two minutes into the second half sparked by a second-chance layup by Buford. Scott swished a mid-range jumper, Stack went 1-of-2 at the line, and Scott finished in the paint for two to go up 47-33. Georgia Southern would answer back with their own 16-2 run to end the third. The Eagles’ run was capped off by a pair of free throws by Garrett to tie the game at 49-49 with 2:14. Stack regained ODU’s lead with a layup in the paint on the next possession. Buford gave ODU a two-possession lead with a made second-chance layup plus the contact and converted at the line. Kyla Bryant made a triple with a little over a minute left and Garrett netted a jumper with 30 seconds remaining. The final basket of the third came from a jumper by Scott, 56-54.
Buford opened the final stanza with a fast break three and Cunningham finished a layup in the paint to go back up by seven. GS would only start cutting into the Monarch lead with two minutes remaining, Anderson hit a three, a made layup by Garrett, and another three by Anderson cut the score to 71-70. Simmons made 1-of-2 free throws with 16 seconds left to tie the game. Buford got called for a charge with six seconds and Garrett had a layup with a chance to win with a second left, but Cunningham swatted it to send the game to OT.
Garrett gave Georgia Southern its first lead of the game with 3:35 in OT after a pair of made free throws by Garrett. Garrett scored again a minute later in the paint to go up by four. Fields came up clutch for the Monarchs with the Monarchs final two baskets of the period and a strong defensive effort sent the game to double overtime.
Old Dominion shot 43.1% from the field, 26.2% from deep, and 74.1% from the line. The Monarchs grabbed 53 rebounds to the Eagles’ 36. ODU went 20-for-27 at the charity stripe. Stack had a career high 20 points after previously setting a new high of 16 against Troy on Dec. 17. Buford has gone three straight games with 19+ points. Old Dominion’s starting five combined for 75 points.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs are back at Chartway on Saturday, Jan. 3 for a meeting with Georgia State at 1 p.m.