ODU Women’s Basketball went toe to toe with top seeded Marshall on Sunday but ultimately fell short 76-70.
The Monarchs were once again without leading scoring En’Dya Buford, who injured her hand in the regular season finale against JMU. ODU had multiple guards step up in her absence, led by Kaye Clark who was all over the court Sunday. Clark loaded up an impressive stat line of 16 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals.
Jordan McLaughlin finished with 15 points and 5 rebounds while Mimi McCollister got the start and dropped in 10.
Marshall came out of the gates with a 9-2 run, knocking down three triples on open looks.
ODU adjusted quickly by stepping up defensive pressure around the three point line, denying entry passes and back cuts into the paint. This led to the Herd forcing tougher shots that were closely contested.
Offensively Old Dominion was able to break the Marshall full court press, many times pushing the ball up court before the press could be fully set up.
The Monarchs bounced back from the early deficit to take a 17-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
In the second, ODU continued the defensive pressure, disrupting Marshall’s offensive rhythm and turning defense into offense.
After Marshall tied the game, McCollister scored six straight points to put the Monarchs ahead 23-17.
McLaughlin’s three with under a minute in the half stretched the advantage to 38-28 and ODU would ultimately take an eight point edge into the locker room. They dominated the paint 22-6 and scored 12 points off turnovers.
The third quarter was the killer for the Monarchs. Marshall’s defense created many turnovers and held ODU to just eight points. A 7-0 run by The Herd to end the quarter put them back in front 52-47.
Marshall opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run, leading by as many as 15 with just under six minutes to play. But Old Dominion was not going down without a fight.
Halima Salat knocked down back to back threes followed by a bucket from Joy Campbell and the Monarchs trailed by just five with 2:17 remaining.
ODU kept pushing but ultimately could not force turnovers and Marshall knocked down their free throws.
Old Dominion will now wait until next Sunday to see if they are selected for one of the post season tournaments. It’s widely expected that the Monarchs will receive an invitation to either the WNIT or the newly created WBIT.