LAFAYETTE, La. - Old Dominion women’s basketball got in front early in the first quarter and maintained its lead for 37:27 minutes the rest of the way to earn a 72-61 victory over Louisiana on Wednesday night at the Cajundome.
“Finally got a road win within the conference,” said ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “While I’m happy with the win I felt we could’ve done it in a better way. There’s work still to be done as we trudge through the second half of conference play.”
ODU’s (14-10, 6-6 SBC) En’Dya Buford opened the scoring with a made three-pointer at the 8:44 mark. ULL’s (2-21, 1-12 SBC) Imani Daniels scored a driving layup on the next possession but Dalanna Carter reestablished ODU’s 5-2 lead a minute later with a made jumper. The Ragin’ Cajuns gained its only lead of the night after a pair of made jumpers by Mikaylah Manley gave Louisiana a 6-5 lead at the 6:38 mark of the first quarter.
Carter was fouled on a driving layup and made one-of-two attempts at the free throw line to knot the score at six a piece with 6:02 remaining. Nakiyah Allen grabbed an offensive rebound from a missed jumper by Carter and converted the second-chance layup to give ODU back the lead. ODU ended the final 2:26 on a 7-0 run, capped off by a tip-in layup by Buford and a pair of made free throws by Laila Walker as ODU went up, 22-12 at the end of one.
Simaru Fields made her first shot of the second quarter after nailing a three from the wing 33 seconds into the quarter. Walker made her third and fourth free throws 40 seconds after to give ODU a 14-point lead. Clayton capped off a 7-0 run to open the quarter with a made layup, 29-13 at 8:09. The best the Ragin’ Cajuns could muster in the quarter was a 4-0 run to cut the home team’s deficit to 12, 31-19 with 3:59 left. ODU would finish the final 3:59 with a 8-4 scoring advantage to go into the half up by 16, 39-23.
ODU held onto its lead the whole third quarter but Louisiana tried to chip into it. They cut the deficit to 11 points with 4:13 remaining and seven points with 1:39 left to play. ODU finished the final 1:39 of the third on a 7-0 run to reestablish a 15-point lead going into the final stanza.
ODU stretched its lead to 17 by the 6:21 mark of the fourth quarter thanks to a made second-chance jumper by Mariah Clayton to go up, 70-53. However, the final six minutes would be highlighted by an 8-2 run by the Ragin’ Cajuns to end the game and the home team couldn't manufacture enough points as ODU won its first road Sun Belt game of the season, 72-61.
ULL's Manley led all scorers on the night with 27 points for Louisiana. ODU’s leading scorer was Fields with 12 points followed by Mariah Clayton’s 11 and Riley Stack who finished with 10 points and a team high eight rebounds.
Old Dominion shot 42.9% from the field, 23.8% from behind the arc, and 72.2% from the free throw line. The Monarchs scored 32 points in the paint and grabbed 41 rebounds to Louisiana’s 32 boards. ODU forced ULL into making 16 turnovers in the game and Stack led ODU with two steals.
Old Dominion scored 20 second-chance points and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds. The Silver and Blue scored 12 fastbreak points, 14 off turnovers, and only trailers for 36 seconds.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs head to Athens, Ohio to match up with the Bobcats in the second round of the MAC-SBC Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m.