RICHMOND, Va. - Old Dominion women's basketball fell to Richmond, 90-67 on Thursday night at the Robins Center. Old Dominion is now 3-1 after the defeat and the Spiders improved to 2-2 with the win.
“We allowed Richmond to do the things that they love to do, which is break your defense down by cutting hard to get easy stuff at the rim, but then also punishing you around the three point line,” said ODU Head Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. “They killed us in transition, and killed us on the three-point line. Those are two things that are non-negotiables for us, if you want to win on the road you have to defend. We didn’t rebound well in my opinion, and we definitely did not defend well in transition defense.”
ODU went into the halftime break trailing 44-42 and by the fifth minute mark of the third quarter they were down by 11, 55-44. The Monarchs were outscored by the Spiders, 26-12 in the third quarter and the home team never looked back on its way to their first home win this season. Richmond shot 10-for-19 (53%) from behind the arc while the Monarchs mustered 3-for-13 (23.1%) from deep.
Old Dominion outscored Richmond, 21-19 in the first quarter and Riley Stack got off to a flying start with 10 points in the opening stanza. Richmond scored the first basket of the night with a made three-pointer by Ally Sweeney. Stack opened the Monarchs’ scoring tally 31 seconds later with a layup in the paint.
The Silver and Blue earned its first lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Another made layup by Stack put ODU up by one, 17-16 before a pair of made free throws on back-to-back possessions by Jaida McDonald grew the lead to five points, 21-16, for what would be ODU’s largest lead of the night. UR’s Ava Persichetti netted a long ball with 39 seconds on the clock for the final basket of the quarter.
The two programs battled back and forth in the second quarter with neither team gaining more than a five-point lead. ODU grew its lead back up to five with a minute and a half off the clock after a made layup and three pointer by Trinity Vance. Richmond came right back with a layup by Aneisha Scott at 7:50, she was fouled and made her free throw to make the score, 26-24. Then Sweeney drove the ball on a fast break and scored to level the game at 26-26.
ODU’s Vanessa Sepulveda scored her first points in Division-I basketball 20 seconds after the make to go back up by three. But a pair of made free throws by Scott and a layup by Rayne Wright gave the Spiders a one-point lead. Richmond took its own five-point lead by the 2:55 mark thanks to a made three pointer by Wright and a layup plus the foul by Persichetti who netted her free throw. Mia Davis scored a turnaround jumper and a made layup by Snyder was the final basket of the half. The Monarchs scored 21 points in the second quarter but conceded 25 points to go into the halftime break with a two-point deficit to climb, 44-42. Stack had the most points she has ever tallied in a half of action, she notched 16 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field.
The Monarchs entered the fourth quarter down by 16 points, 70-54. The Spiders’ Perichetti grew the home team’s lead to 19 points after drilling a three with 9:11 left to play. Perichetti came back down a minute later to score the game’s next basket to go up by 22, 76-54. Arisa Ihara scored off an ODU turnover by Shadasia Brackens and again grew their lead to 24, 78-54. Stack went 1-for-2 at the line for ODU’s first point of the final quarter of action. The Monarchs were outscored, 20-13 in the final 10 minutes and ODU lost its first game of the season, 90-67.
Stack led the Monarchs with 19 points followed by Davis’ 11 points and Sepulveda’s 10 points. ODU scored 42 points in the paint, 27 bench points, and 21 second-chance points. Four Spiders scored 12+ points, Perichetti led the way with 20 followed by 15 by Scott and Sweeney while Ihara scored 12 points.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion returns to Chartway Arena to host Virginia on Sunday, November 15 at 2 p.m.