Thundering Herd Kicks off C-USA Play with Home Date vs. ODU

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall women's basketball team returns to the Cam Henderson Center for its first Conference USA game of the regular season. Tipoff against Old Dominion is set for Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Thundering Herd enters the game with a record of 6-7 and the Monarchs come in at 9-3. It will be the 11th meeting all-time between the two programs, with ODU holding a 7-3 advantage.

The game will be broadcast live on beIN Connect (tape delay on beIN Sports) as Jake Griffith and Charlie Hagley will have the call. The game will also be broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM and with audio streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul through one of the Listen Live links.

Last Time Out
Marshall closed out non-conference play with a 75-63 victory over Delaware State on Saturday. The Herd featured four players scoring in double-figures.

The Thundering Herd improved to 6-7, while the Hornets fell to 2-8.

Senior Shayna Gore led Marshall in scoring with 16 points and added six rebounds and two steals. Gore is now tied with Kristi Huff (1988-92) for 11th all-time with 165 career steals. Redshirt junior Khadaijia Brooks finished with 13 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocks. Junior Ashley Saintigene scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. Sophomore Taylor Pearson rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, six boards and two steals. Six of Pearson's points came on converting layups while getting fouled.

Marshall struggled from long range hitting just 4-of-27 (14.8 percent), however the Herd scored 48 points in the paint and grabbed 54 rebounds. Delaware State scored 20 points in the paint and finished with 42 boards.

The Herd led for the entire game. Marshall closed out the first quarter with a five-point lead, 19-14, as Gore scored seven in the period. Marshall then dominated the second quarter, 20-8, and held the Hornets to just 23.1 percent (3-of-13) from the field. Gore had 13 going into the half while Saintigene and Pearson each had six. Delaware State cut the Marshall lead to 17 right at the buzzer as Lanayjha Ashe hit a half-court shot. The Herd went in at the break up 39-22.

In the third quarter, Marshall pushed the lead out to 27 at the 4:14 mark with a 12-2 run. The Hornets fought back and closed out the quarter cutting the lead down to 19 as NaJai Pollard hit a layup right before the buzzer. Pollard scored 11 of her game-high 30 points in the third period. With 10 minutes remaining, The Herd led 62-43.

Marshall struggled offensively in the fourth quarter scoring just 13 points on 27.8 percent (5-of-18) shooting. The Hornets scored 20 while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Herd played patiently on offense and helped wear down the clock and take away opportunities for Delaware State. A couple of late offensive rebounds for Marshall by Gore and freshman Kia Sivils helped to keep the clock running. Keke Barber hit a three right before the buzzer to cut the final lead down to 12.

Marshall recorded just two blocked shots in the game – both from Brooks – and continued its consecutive games with at least two blocks streak to 15-straight.

Season/Career-Highs
Khadaijia Brooks posted or tied career-highs in field goal attempts (15) and 3-pointers attempted (seven) and tied season-highs in assists (three) and blocks (two) in the 75-63 win over Delaware State. Kristen Mayo tied a career-best with five rebounds, while Princess Clemons' three free throws and four free throw attempts tied season-high totals. Finally, Ashley Saintigene's five field goals made and Tana Driver's two free throws attempts tied season-highs.

Thieves on the Floor
Marshall has ripped off 126 steals and is second in Conference USA with 97 thefts per game. 54.3 percent (126-of-232) of the opposition's turnovers have resulted in a Thundering Herd steal. Shayna Gore leads the team with 26 steals and has recorded at least one in 11 of 13 games. Kristen Mayo is next with 23 steals. Taylor Porter (18) and Kia Sivils (18) are right behind and both had a season-high five steals with Porter against Bluefield State and Sivils at Appalachian State. Gore (6th - 2.0) and Mayo (8th - 1.8) both rank in the top 10 in C-USA in steals per game. Add in Porter and Sivils (both 15th - 1.4) and Marshall has more players in the top-15 than any other team in conference.

The Herd has posted at least seven thefts in the past five games. Marshall has recorded at least five steals in every game this season and has grabbed at least five in now 24-straight games dating back to last season. The last time the Herd did not have at least five steals in a game was against WKU on Jan. 21, 2018.

500 Field Goals
Senior Shayna Gore finished the 2017-18 season just one bucket short of 500 made for her career. With 2:14 left in the first quarter of the season-opener against Indiana State, Gore hit a three to become the eighth player in program history with 500 made field goals. After hitting two more baskets in the game, Gore moved into seventh all-time passing Sheila Johnson (1987-91). Gore is now third with 576 after the Delaware State contest. The senior from Logan, W.Va., has quite a way to go before possibly reaching second all-time as Marshall Athletics Hall of Famer Kristina Behnfeldt (1995-99) has 664. Fellow Hall of Famer Karen Pelphrey (1982-86) is the program's all-time leader with 1,175.

Moving on up the Ranks
Shayna Gore put up a career-best performance with 34 points against Bowling Green and moved into fourth place all-time in Marshall scoring history. Gore surpassed former Herd great Tynikki Crook (2007-11) in the third quarter and finished the game at 1,485 career points. Gore buried six 3-pointers, the third time in her career with six or more, in helping to move ahead of Crook.

Gore continued her move up the scoring column with 24 points in the win over Tennessee State (12/15) to move into third place all-time, passing Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (2002-06). She currently sits third all-time at Marshall with 1,678 points. Next up in second place is another Herd Hall of Famer in Kristina Behnfeldt (1995-99) with 2,117, and whose number hangs in the rafters in the Cam Henderson Center.

Conference USA Player of the Week
Taylor Porter was honored with the weekly award for the first time in her career with a couple of great performances. In the loss at Wisconsin, Porter scored a season-high 16 points and tied her career-high with eight boards. Back at home in the win over Cleveland State, the redshirt senior set a new season-high with 22 points, established a career-best with six made three-pointers, contributed five assists and three steals.

Let it Fly from Outside
Marshall's 16 made three-pointers against Coppin State was a program record. The previous high was 15 versus Maine Fort Kent on Dec. 20, 2016. In the win over Coppin State, Kristen Mayo set a career-high going 6-for-6 and establishing a new mark for the highest perfect score from beyond the arc in program history. Tamira Higgins went 5-for-5 against Chattanooga on Jan. 17, 1994. Shayna Gore hit five 3-pointers and six different players hit one from outside. Jovana Vucetic hit the record-breaker, sinking the Herd's final three of the day with 1:23 remaining in the game.

Overtime-less Streak Comes to an End
Marshall's 72-65, overtime victory against Evansville ended a long running streak. It had been 131 games - or 1,730 days - since the Herd played an overtime period, and ended the second longest active streak in Division I women's basketball behind Maryland. The last time Marshall played an overtime game came on March 5, 2014, on Senior Night against the UTSA Roadrunners in the Cam Henderson Center. That year, the Herd's freshmen were in the eighth grade and only Taylor Porter was on a collegiate court during her freshman season at Murray State.

Welcome Back - Khadaijia Brooks & Taylor Porter - Season-Opener
The season-opener against Indiana State saw the return of two players for Marshall who missed the 2017-18 season with medical redshirts. Taylor Porter and Khadaijia Brooks both made their comebacks to the floor on Nov. 7, in the Cam Henderson Center. Brooks led Marshall with 16 points, 11 boards and added two blocks while shooting 7-of-13 from the floor. Porter struggled offensively from the field going 2-of-9 and 1-of-5 from three-point range. However, Porter's energy, intensity and toughness on the floor will be a welcomed sight back for Marshall in her senior season.

Up Next
Marshall hosts Charlotte at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Cam Henderson Center.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall women's basketball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdWBB, Facebook at Marshall University Basketball and on www.herdzone.com.

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Thundering Herd Kicks off C-USA Play with Home Date vs. ODU

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Players Mentioned

Khadaijia Brooks

Princess Clemons

Tana Driver

Shayna Gore

Kristen Mayo

Taylor Pearson

Taylor Porter

Ashley Saintigene

Kia Sivils

Jovana Vucetic

Marshall University Athletics