Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Old Dominion
Third-Quarter Outburst Propels @HerdWBB to win over ODU
1/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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| Daniel Press Conference HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A 14-2 run during the middle of the third quarter helped the Marshall women's basketball team earn an 80-62 win over Old Dominion Sunday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center.
With the win, the Herd improved to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in Conference USA.ODU dropped to 7-12 overall and 3-4 in C-USA.
Taylor Porter (Fort Gay, W.Va.) led the way for the Herd with 18 points and three assists, connecting on four of her six 3-point attempts. Norrisha Victrum (Columbia, S.C.) added 15 points and three assists and Talequia Hamilton (Huntington) tacked on 14 points. Kiana Evans (Huntington) also had three assists. Leah Scott (Detroit, Mich.) shook off a 4-for-15 day from the field to register a team-high eight rebounds.
ODU got 20 points from Jennie Simms, the league's leading scorer who came in averaging over 19 a game, but it took 18 field goal attempts to get her there. She also had three assists. Top honors in the assist category went to Makayla Timmons, who had six, and Destinee Young notched 10 rebounds and three blocks.
"Energy creates productivity in about every statistic you can possibly look at," said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. "We had pretty good energy today, and a lot of the energy came from the crowd. It was an unbelievable crowd on a snow day, on a Sunday in a game that wasn't scheduled. It shows we're headed in the right direction."
Both teams started the game cold as the first points of the game came on a free throw from Evans at the 8:27 mark of the opening quarter. The first field goal of the game did not come until the 6:38 mark of the quarter, when Victrum drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Herd a 4-1 lead. The Lady Monarchs tied the game briefly on a 3-pointer from Timmons before the Herd retook the lead on a 3-pointer from Hamilton. Old Dominion cut the Herd lead to one at 9-8 but Marshall got a timely 3-pointer from Shayna Gore (Logan, W.Va.) and a layup from Chelsey Romero (Hampton, Va.) to stretch the lead to 14-8. After the first quarter the Herd led 21-15 on the strength of four 3-pointers.
The Herd started the second quarter on a hot streak as they opened the quarter on a 9-0 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Porter. The Herd went on to score 11 of the first 13 points in the quarter before the Lady Monarchs caught fire from behind the 3-point arc. Old Dominion hit three consecutive 3-pointers to cut the Marshall lead to 32-27, prompting head coach Matt Daniel to call a timeout with 1:19 left in the half. A pair of free throws from Logan Fraley (Ashland, Ky.) just before time expired gave the Herd a 34-27 lead at the half.
Both teams came out of the locker room playing solid defense for the first two minutes of the third quarter. A jumper from Hamilton at the 7:14 mark of the quarter started a 14-2 run for the Herd that extended the lead to 54-35, forcing Old Dominion to burn a pair of timeouts. The Lady Monarchs cut the Marshall lead to 15 on a layup from Simms but the Herd led 59-43 after three quarters.
Old Dominion started the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from Gianna Smith but the Herd responded by scoring the next five points on a three-point play from Victrum and a layup by Evans. The Lady Monarchs responded with a 9-1 run off of layups from Simms and free throws from Timmons. Clutch free throw shooting for the Herd put the game out of reach as the home team shot 15-for-21 from the line in the quarter.
The Thundering Herd made getting to the free throw line a priority throughout the game, more than doubling up the Lady Monarchs (29-14) on makes.
"Not only hitting free throws, but I'm glad with how many times we got there (38, compared to ODU's 25)," said Daniel. "We were aggressive. Every game in this league is going to be a fight, whoever fights the hardest and longest is going to win the game. When we've done that, we've been in games. I'm really proud of how aggressive we were today."
ODU won the rebounding battle 45-41, thanks in large part to a 19-10 edge on the offensive end.
Up next, the Herd hits the road for another pair of conference games. Marshall has a 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT tip against Middle Tennessee (11-7, 5-2) on Thursday and a 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT affair at UAB (10-8, 3-4) on Saturday.
