PENSACOLA, FL (WTKR) — The path to victory looked paved out for the Old Dominion women, leading Troy by 18 with 7:55 to play in the second half of the Sun Belt Tournament quarterfinals.
Getting to the final destination turned out to be much bumpier than expected. The Trojans went on a 28-11 run to close the gap down to 84-83 with just 47 seconds to play. An Amari Young layup with just two seconds left to go gave the Monarchs just enough cushion to pull out an 86-83 victory.
Young put up 29 points in the win for ODU, pacing an offensive effort that saw Monarchs shoot 47.8 percent from the floor. Princess Anne grad Makayla Dickens finished with 14 points off the bench while Brianna Jackson, Jordan McLaughlin, and Jatyjia Jones all scored nine points.
With the win, Old Dominion improves to 22-11 and sets up a rematch with rivals James Madison.
The Dukes won both games against the silver and blue this season, the second of the two providing plenty of fireworks. Young hit a shot with less than fives seconds to play to send the game to overtime, and ODU took a six point lead in the extra frame before JMU went on a 12-1 run to finish the game and take a 73-68 win.
A win over JMU could put Old Dominion in its first conference tournament championship game since playing Middle Tennessee State for the Conference USA title in 2016.
