NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — For a second straight game, Old Dominion saw a double-digit lead fall apart at home.
This time around, however, the Monarchs found a way to scrap for a win.
Behind a career-high 19 points from Brenda Fontana, ODU held off a fiery comeback from Southern Miss to notch a 68-62 win on Saturday.
Right out of the gates, Delisha Milton-Jones' group took the game by storm with a 12-4 first quarter, then opened up a 28-8 lead with a 16-2 run to begin the second quarter. The visitors would close things up to 34-22 going into halftime.
The Golden Eagles flipped the script on ODU out of the locker rooms, using a 21-10 third quarter to close the lead down to one-point. Both teams traded the lead multiple times in the second half, including three times in the fourth quarter.
Old Dominion grabbed the lead for good with a Jenny Nkem Womsi layup at 5:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. A 17-10 run in that final five minute stretch ultimately closing out the victory for ODU.
Fontana went 7-14 to lead the way for ODU, while Kaye Clark posted 15 points and Jordan McLaughlin added 10. The silver and blue connected on nine three-pointers in the game, shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc.
With the win, the Monarchs improve to 10-3 and 2-1 in Sun Belt play. The schedule gets road heavy over the next two weeks with four straight road games for ODU, the first coming on Wednesday at Coastal Carolina.
