By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Trailing by 10 points with 1:40 left, the Old Dominion women’s basketball team staged a furious comeback that fell just short, and the Monarchs fell to Coastal Carolina, 69-62, Wednesday evening at Chartway Arena.
The Monarchs were down, 63-53, when they began their comeback with a Kelsey Thompson jump shot.
Simaru Fields then picked off a pass and made a three-point shot to cut the lead to five.
En’Dya Buford then made two free throws and followed that with a steal and another layup, and with 48 seconds left, the Chanticleers’ lead was down to one, 63-62, and a crowd of 2,127 was on its feet.
But Coastal’s Kinsea Grimes made a layup, was fouled and then made the foul shot to build the lead to four, one that the Chanticleers made stand up.
ODU (15-11 overall, 6-7 Sun Belt Conference) was led by Fields, who had 14 points, while Buford added 12 and a career high eight steals. Thompson and Nakiyah Allen added eight apiece.
The Monarchs dominated the boards, outrebounding the Chanticleers (12-14, 5-8), 48-41, and dominated with their speed as well, as they had 17 points on fast breaks to three for Coastal.
But Coastal outshot the Monarchs in the fourth quarter, making 3-of-6 three-point shots and went 8-of-9 from the foul line.
The Monarchs also made just 13-of-29 layups.
Head Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was happy with the team’s comeback, but said it was too little, too late.
“We started getting the defensive stops that we needed,” she said. “They were one and done on their end and we were being scrappy on defense, getting on the floor, getting down in transition and we were finding good looks. I’m super proud of the execution in those moments. But then when the game got tight, and we needed to score again, we turned the ball over on consecutive times. Give Coastal credit. They did what they had to do to win the game. They fought and they fought very hard. We did not do what we needed to do to win.”
ODU grabbed the early lead but fell behind in the second quarter and trailed, 33-25, at halftime.
Tessa Grady made a three-point shot to give the Chanticleers a 41-29 lead 50 seconds into the third quarter.
But then the Monarchs began to claw their way back.
ODU’s Riley Stack, who transferred from Coastal Carolina, made a free throw and Simaru Fields made back-to-back jump shots to trim the lead to six, 41-35.
Following a Coastal timeout, and then a turnover, Fields drilled a three-pointer and the Coastal lead was cut to three.
The game was close the rest of the way.
Allen finally tied the score for ODU, 48-48, on a layup a minute into the fourth quarter.
Buford then gave ODU its first lead since the first quarter, 50-49, with two free throws a minute later.
Allen made a layup to build the lead to 53-49 with six minutes left, and the Monarchs appeared to be in the process of taking control.
But Coastal then went on a 14-0 run that erased the ODU lead.
The Monarchs host James Madison Saturday in the TowneBank Royal Rivalry at 1 p.m. It will be their final home game of the season and Senior Day. It is a doubleheader with the men’s team, which takes on Georgia State at 3:30.
“JMU is a rivalry game,” Milton-Jones said. “It’s always big and it’s Senior Day, too.
“So, I’m hoping our seniors, all seven of them, can come in with that juice and that energy and that vibe. It’s long overdue for us to beat JMU and I can’t think of a better time to do it than now.”
The Monarchs conclude the regular season with four games – at Georgia State (Feb. 19), Coastal Carolina (Feb. 21), JMU (Feb. 25) and App State (Feb. 27.) before heading to Pensacola, Florida, for the Sun Belt Tournament, March 3-9.
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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