BOONE, NC (WTKR)- Eight days ago, the Old Dominion women's basketball team handed Appalachian State a loss at Chartway Arena. Thursday night saw the Mountaineers return the favor.
App State jumped out to a 15-8 first quarter lead and had an answer for every Monarch rally, handing ODU a 74-66 loss Thursday night. It marked the silver and blue's first Sun Belt road defeat of the season as they fell to 13-7, 5-3 in league play.
Old Dominion opened the game on a 5-0 run before the Mountaineers responded with a 13-0 surge of their own to take control. The Monarchs trimmed the deficit to two points on several occasions in the second quarter, but App State held them off and went into the locker room up 33-26 at halftime.
Rylan Moffitt's three-pointer gave ASU its largest lead of the night at 46-31 with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter, a hole that was just too big to climb out of for Old Dominion. Delisha Milton-Jones and company were able to get the gap back to single digits by the end of the frame, trailing 48-39 with one quarter remaining. They cut the lead to 66-60 with 32 seconds left, but it turned out to be too little, too late.
En'Dya Buford and Simaru Fields each scored 20 points for Old Dominion, with Buford adding nine rebounds. The Monarchs were hurt at the free throw line, connecting on just 12 of their 21 attempts. Moffitt led four App State players in double figures with 15 points.
Old Dominion returns to action Saturday when the Monarchs visit Georgia State in Atlanta. Tipoff is set for 1:00 PM, the first of back-to-back match-ups with the Panthers, who make the return trip to Norfolk for a Wednesday showdown at Chartway Arena.
