BOCA RATON, Fla. (ODUSports.com) – Down nine with 3:45 remaining in the second quarter, the Old Dominion women’s basketball team flipped the script and outscored Florida Atlantic 51-27 for the remainder of the game en route to a 70-55 road win on Thursday night. The Monarchs (21-6, 11-4 C-USA) ran into the break with a 7-0 spurt before dominating the second half.
“Once we put all of our efforts into the defensive end of the floor that opened the game up for us,” head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. “Once we got the lead we weren’t going to give it back.”
ODU made half of its shots against the Owls (5-21, 1-14), hit seven 3-pointers and received double-digit points from Iggy Allen, Mariah Adams and Aziah Hudson.
Adams flirted with a double-double and posted 14 points and nine assists – both career highs. The senior guard from Little Rock, Arkansas made six of her nine shot attempts and did not commit a turnover in over 35 minutes of action.
Playing against her former team, Allen set the game high with 19 points and chipped in seven rebounds, three assists and two steals as well as knocking down three 3-pointers. Hudson lit it up from deep for the second consecutive game, making four of her six treys for 16 points. The native of Baldwin, New York is averaging 19 points per game and four made treys over her last two games.
ODU failed to lock down the 3-point arc in the 1st quarter and trailed 19-13 after 10 minutes. FAU shot 3-of-5 from deep in the opening period, but the Monarchs soon adjusted and held the Owls without a 3-pointer for the remainder of the game. In total, FAU shot 0-of-12 from long range over the last three quarters.
The Monarchs struggled to put the ball in the basket to start the second quarter as the Owls built a nine-point advantage on three occasions. ODU missed nine of its first 11 shot attempts in the period and was down 28-19 with 3:45 left to play. That all changed quickly with an Allen 3-pointer at the 3:20 mark, a shot that sparked a 10-2 closing run from the Monarchs. After Adams made two at the foul line with 90 seconds remaining, Allen sank another trey 20 seconds later to make it a three-point deficit, 30-27. Old Dominion looked to have tied the game in the final moments of the half only for a long Hudson jump shot to be ruled a 2-pointer by a fraction of an inch.
Despite the cold start to the quarter, ODU shot 40 percent in the period.
Alexa Zaph started the second half with a jumper, but the third quarter belonged to the Monarchs. Allen hit back-to-back field goals, and Brianna Jackson hit a foul shot to put ODU ahead 34-32 with 7:26 to play. Janeta Rozentale hit two at the foul line to tie the score at 34-all, but Old Dominion countered with a 7-0 run. Hudson punctuated that run with her first triple of the game, but the Owls scored six unanswered thereafter to pull to within one, 41-40 with 2:24 left in the quarter. Adams and Jackson scored back-to-back inside the final 40 seconds of the quarter to give ODU a 45-40 advantage.
The floodgates opened in the fourth quarter as ODU shot 10-of-15 from the field and hit three 3-pointers to blow open the game. The Owls had one final push to start the period, scoring six of the first eight points to cut the ODU lead to a point, 47-46 after less than three minutes of action. Rozentale’s layup at the 7:23 mark was FAU’s last basket for a stretch of nearly four minutes as ODU jumped out to an 11-0 run. The Owls broke the run with 3:26 to go only for Hudson to answer with two 3-pointers in less than a minute. Allen gave the Monarchs their largest lead of the night at 66-50 with two minutes to go before Milton-Jones turned the game over to her bench.
Ashanti Barnes-Williams enjoyed a breakout performance with career highs of eight points and five rebounds. The freshman from Norfolk made three of her four shots and was 2-of-3 from the foul line.
“She’s instant offense for us,” Milton-Jones said. “We’re a little thin in the post, and since we’re thin she’s going to play more minutes.”
ODU turned the ball over just nine times on Thursday for its third game this season with fewer than 10 turnovers.
Kaye Clark matched her personal best with two blocked shots.
ODU returns to play on Saturday with a noon tip at FIU.
