"Super happy that we controlled our destiny tonight by getting this much needed win,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. "Heading into Pensacola off of a win is always a huge momentum push for us."
Old Dominion (18-13, 9-9 SBC) got off to a hot start, grabbing a seven-point lead by the first media timeout at 3:32 in the opening stanza, 17-10. Buford and Fields combined for 15 of ODU’s 17 points and knocked down four three-pointers between the two of them. Riley Stack scored a second-chance layup at 2:43 and a turnaround jumper in the paint at 1:59. Nisaa Muhammad scored the final points of the quarter as ODU ended the first with a five-point lead, 23-18.
App State’s (11-18, 4-14 SBC) Jada Burton scored a layup to open the second quarter and cut ODU’s lead to a single possession. Fields came down on the next possession and netted a deep ball, but it was cancelled out by a made three-pointer by App’s Elena Pericic the next time down the court, 26-23. Simone Cunningham went 2-for-2 at the free throw line and Fields found the bottom of the net on a fast break three-pointer to go back up by seven, 30-23 with 6:39 left in the second quarter. The Mountaineers would go on to score five points the remainder of the quarter and ODU would expand its lead to double-digits for the first time of the night at the 4:28 mark with a pair of Dalanna Carter free throws. Over the final 1:30 ODU would close out the first half on a 6-2 run. Stack scored a layup and Nakiyah Allen finished in the paint and made a pair of free throws as ODU went into halftime up by 16, 44-28.
Stack scored 13 seconds into the third quarter with a jumper just outside the paint to give ODU an 18-point lead, it was their largest lead of the night. But the Mountaineers on senior night would not give up that easily. App went on a 10-0 run from the 5:44 mark till 3:23 with buckets from Pericic, Emily Hedge, and Daisa Mitchell to trim ODU’s lead to seven, 50-43. Fields stopped the bleeding with a pullup jumper at 2:53 and Cunningham made both her free throws to re-establish a double-digit advantage, 54-43. ODU would push its lead back to 13 points by the end of the quarter and the Monarchs’ final bucket came from Nisaa Muhammad with 45 seconds remaining. App’s Jada Burton went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe with one second left, 59-46 at the end of three.
App’s Mitchell nailed a three to open the fourth for the Mountaineers and Burton went 1-for-2 to cut ODU’s lead back down to single-digits, 59-50. Buford responded with a made jumper in the paint, but Mitchell came down the next possession and scored. Pericic blocked a Buford three-pointer and scored on the other end to cut App’s deficit to seven with 7:53 remaining. Fields steadied the Monarchs’ offense with a second-chance layup a minute later and Kelsey Thompson made a pullup jumper in the paint to go back up by 11, 65-54. App would not be counted out after a made jumper by Mitchell and another three-pointer by Pericic put them within two possessions, 65-59. Buford came through in the clutch and made a tough and-one layup and converted at the line to give ODU a nine-point lead with 1:45 remaining in the contest. Burton scored a jumper in the paint to cut the lead to seven but App State could only muster two more points on the night as ODU knocked down 7-of-8 free throws with the only miss coming from Stack with 0.9 seconds remaining as ODU held on for its seventh road win of the season.
ODU shot 83.3% from the free throw line (20-for-24) and 41.7% from the field (25-for-60). ODU’s bench contributed 35 points, and the Monarchs scored 36 points in the paint. ODU had a +13-rebounding margin over the Mountaineers with 46 total rebounds. The Monarchs led for 35:53, trailed for 3:03, and the game was tied for only 1:04.
Buford (19) and Fields (16) combined for 35 points. Cunningham finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and four steals. Stack tacked on nine points, six rebounds, three blocks and one steal. Allen scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, and had a career high two blocks.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion will play its first game of the Sun Belt Championship a week from today on Friday, March 6 at 3 p.m. with the Monarchs taking on the winner of game six.