SAN MARCOS, Texas - Texas State ended the final 3:30 of action on a 13-2 run. And Old Dominion women’s basketball, which had led for 35:22 of the game’s 40 minutes, fell 65-61 on Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena.
“The road has been unkind to us, and we failed to grasp a much-needed win tonight,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “While there were some very controversial moments with the bookkeeper and missed calls on the floor, we had ample opportunities to seal the deal for ourselves tonight. Too many missed box outs and lost opportunities on 50/50 balls cost us greatly. Road wins start and end with your ability to rebound the ball and we failed miserably in that regard. Home is always good for us to regroup and what better moment than now for us to do so.”
The Bobcats (9-10, 5-4 SBC) gained their first lead of the afternoon with 2:25 left to play. A made three-pointer by Saniya Burks gave TSU a 59-57 lead. ODU’s (12-9, 4-5 SBC) Riley Stack tied things back up the next trip down the hardwood but TSU’s Mia Galbraith regained the Bobcats’ advantage with 1:36 left on a made layup. Fields fouled KP Parr on a layup and she went 1-for-2 at the line to go up by three.
Simaru Fields was judged by the home team’s bookkeeper to have accumulated five fouls after the fact, however, it was Simone Cunningham who had four fouls prior and Fields had three. Fields was sent to the bench, and the verdict wasn’t corrected until there was 12 seconds remaining. Buford hit a pullup two pointer with her foot on the line for the final basket of the night, 65-61.
The Monarchs opened the game on a 6-1 run over the first five minutes of the quarter. Stack finished two layups and Laila Walker found the basket at the 7:20 mark. Texas State didn’t make a single field goal until there were 49 seconds left in the quarter. Taleiyah Gibbs knocked down a three for the final bucket of the quarter as ODU led, 12-7.
Galbraith opened the second quarter of scoring with a made jumper 11 seconds in. Fields responded the next time down the court, scoring a driving layup assisted by Cunningham. Buford sent the Monarchs into the half on a high note with a made three-pointer with nine seconds left as ODU went into the break up by eight, 27-19.
Texas State cut their deficit to four at the 9:23 mark after a pair of free throws made the score, 27-23. Stack brought the Monarchs’ lead back to six with another made bucket in the paint but TSU’s Angela Carroll came back and brought it back to four with 8:18 left. Stack finished another attempt in the paint with 5:58 to stretch ODU’s lead back to double-digits, 37-27.Parr and Jones both made buckets in the final 40 seconds of the quarter to cut their deficit to six but Fields nailed a pullup jumper to end the third, 46-38.
The Bobcats outscored the Monarchs, 27-15 in the final stanza. Kyra Anderson fueled the way with nine points in the quarter followed by six from Carroll. ODU’s leading scorer in the final quarter of action was Riley Stack’s six and Buford’s four points.
Stack was the Monarchs’ leading scorer with 16-points followed by Fields’ 14 and Buford finished with 11 points. The Monarchs grabbed 34 rebounds, but TSU grabbed 44 for a -10-rebounding margin in the game. The Silver and Blue scored 22 bench points, 30 in the paint, and only scored six points off the Bobcats 11 turnovers.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs return to Chartway for Super Hero Day against ULM on Wednesday, January 28 at 6:30 p.m.