PENSACOLA, FL (WTKR)- Some might argue that the Old Dominion women's basketball team limped into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, losing two of their last three regular season games, but head coach Delisha Milton-Jones likes how her team responds after defeat.
That was evident on Wednesday, as the Monarchs overcame a slow start and held off Georgia State down the stretch, topping the Panthers, 66-56, in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament. It marked ODU's third win of the season over GSU.
"We expect this type of environment when everyone's fighting to stay alive," Milton-Jones said. "We did a great job of being disciplined, especially in the moments where we needed it the most."
The silver and blue overcame a 34 percent shooting afternoon from the floor to grab the victory. They got all they could handle from Georgia State during the opening frame, as the underdogs took the lead early in the second quarter and only allowed the favorites to hold a 25-22 advantage at the break.
The Monarchs, however, came out firing after halftime. After Georgia State tied the game on a Deasia Merrill three-pointer, ODU exploded on a 12-0 run to open a gap and would never trail again. Makayla Dickens scored 11 straight points for Old Dominion at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters as Milton-Jones would see her squad stretch the lead to 16 points with 8:59 to play.
The Panthers had one final run in them, however, going on a 19-4 spurt and pulling to within two at 55-53 with 3:04 remaining, but Old Dominion was able to open up a gap down the stretch and hit its free throws in the final moments to lock up the victory.
Jatyjia Jones scored a season-high 16 points to pace the Monarchs, while Amari Young added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan McLaughin chipped in 13 points, while Dickens' 11 point stretch accounted for her scoring on the afternoon.
The victory was a nice bounce-back after a couple of stumbles at the end of the regular season for ODU. The Monarchs saw an overtime lead slip away against James Madison on February 18 and fell at Coastal Carolina in their finale last Friday.
"Every coach would want to win, but I know my team and usually after a loss, we respond," the head coach pointed out after Wednesday's win. "We respond by streaking and I'm hoping that holds true for this tournament."
"It was a hard pill to swallow because we had two chances to re-solidify ourselves in the conference and we kind of folded on that," added Dickens. "In a way, I kind of look at it as a blessing in disguise I feel like from those two games, we learned a lot about ourselves and what we have to do to make sure we win."
With the victory, the Monarchs advance to the Sun Belt quarterfinals where they'll face Troy on Friday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time. Old Dominion did not meet the Trojans during the regular season.
