ODU Women's Basketball Succumbs to Southern Miss, 86-83, In Overtime
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women’s basketball team lost a game it dearly needed to win, and in heartbreaking fashion, as Southern Miss erased a 17-point ODU lead and stunned the Monarchs in overtime, 86-83, Friday night at Chartway Arena.
It was a rare home loss for ODU (13-10 overall, 5-6 Sun Belt), which had won 10 of its previous 12 games at Chartway Arena.
It was also a rare road victory for Southern Miss (12-10, 5-6), which had won just two road games prior to Friday’s game. The loss left ODU and Southern Miss tied for seventh in the 14-team Sun Belt Conference.
The Monarchs are in the stretch run of their Sun Belt schedule and Head Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said ODU needs to win at home in order to enhance its seeding in the Sun Belt Tournament.
Milton-Jones was not happy with her team’s performance.
“It was extremely disappointing,” she said of the loss. “The bottom just fell out.
“We didn’t execute. We had people running from the basketball. I just didn’t understand what I was looking at.”
Simaru Fields led ODU with 26 points, and added six rebounds and three steals.
En’Dya Buford scored 13 points and Kelsey Thompson 11. Saddled with early foul trouble, that limited her playing time, Riley Stack had nine points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.
ODU was without starting forward Simone Cunningham, who was sick, Milton-Jones said. Cunningham is the Monarchs’ leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, and a defensive presence in the paint.
Jakayla Johnson, a 5-foot-9 guard from Clinton, Mississippi, led the Lady Eagles with 32 points and nine rebounds.
The Monarchs did not shoot well, making 29 of 76 shots (38.2%). But it was their decision making in the fourth quarter that proved fatal.
The Monarchs too often tried to hurry fast-break opportunities and committed turnovers instead of working the clock.
“We kept telling them the clock was our friend,” Milton-Jones said.
And they sent the Lady Eagles to the foul line too often – Southern Miss outscored the Monarchs, 30-18, from the foul line.
ODU was decked out in in white uniforms with pink trim for the annual Play4Kay game, which celebrates survivors of breast cancer. Hundreds of pink towels were passed out to fans, many of whom came dressed in pink.
The game benefitted the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, named for the former North Carolina State coach who succumbed to breast cancer.
The crowd of 2,167 was festive much of the way as ODU erased a seven-point deficit late in the first half to send the game into halftime tied, 37-all.
With momentum at their back, the Monarchs appeared to blow the game open in the third quarter.
ODU began the third quarter with a 16-3 run, which Stack and Fields ended with back-to-back fast-break layups and the Monarchs led, 53-40 midway through the third quarter.
Fields made a three-pointer that pushed the lead to 17, 61-44, with 2:21 left in the third quarter.
But as has been the case too often this season, the Monarchs saw the lead slowly but surely disappear.
ODU led by 10, 75-65, with five minutes left but were outscored, 12-2, the rest of the way.
Carly Keats, Johnson and Whitney Hart all scored in a two-minute stretch, with Hart’s basket trimming the lead to 76-73 with 1:06 left.
The Monarchs then committed a turnover, which Johnson turned into a jump shot. She was fouled, but missed the foul shot, and ODU still led, 76-75.
Fields then made one of two free throws with 26 seconds left and then Hart hauled down a rebound and put the ball back in to tie the score at 77-77 with 16 seconds left.
Both teams missed jump shots in the final seconds, and the game went into overtime, which Southern Miss dominated.
The Lady Eagles scored the first eight points in overtime. ODU tried to rally, and Buford made two free throws to cut USM's lead to three with 59 seconds left.
But the Monarchs missed two three-point shots in the final seconds.
“Southern Miss had their backs against the wall. They had lost four in a row and were desperate for a win,” Milton-Jones said. "You have to give them credit."
The Monarchs hit the road next week, with games at Louisiana on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and a non-conference game at Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 7, before hosting their final two regular-season home games on Wednesday, Feb. 11, against Coastal Carolina and Saturday, Feb. 14, against James Madison.
The JMU game, set for 1 p.m., is a doubleheader with the men’s basketball team, which hosts Georgia State at 3:30. The men will retire the jersey of former All-American Ronnie Valentine at halftime of their game.
Milton-Jones said the Monarchs have little time to lick their wounds.
“The same way we celebrate our wins, we’re going to have to learn from this loss,” she said.
“We let one go tonight but we’re going to get back to our winning ways quickly.”
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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