Marshall Welcomes Monarchs to Huntington

Video Broadcast: CUSA.tv (Saturday, Sunday)
Radio Broadcast: WMUL (Saturday, Sunday)
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Game Notes: Marshall

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall's women's basketball team will host Old Dominion Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.) inside the Cam Henderson Center.

Friday's game will be carried on CUSA.tv, while Saturday's affair will be an ESPN+ broadcast. Jake Griffith will be on the call for both contests.

The Thundering Herd is 4-6 and 3-5 in Conference USA, while the Monarchs come in at 5-5 and 2-4 in the league. Marshall will see its first action since a home split with FIU on January 22 and 23, while ODU hasn't played since two home losses to Rice on January 15 and 16.

Last Time Out: Marshall 65, FIU 56 (1/23/21)
Marshall's women's basketball team shook off a rough third quarter to tally 23 fourth-quarter points en route to a 65-56 win over FIU January 23 at the Cam Henderson Center.

The win split the series between the two teams after the Panthers triumphed on January 22, 75-60.

Savannah Wheeler made four of her seven shots and seven of her eight free throws to lead the Thundering Herd with 15 points. Kristen Mayo came up big in the fourth period with three of her four 3-pointers and Lorelei Roper notched a career-high 12 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks. Mahogany Matthews also had eight boards and two more rejections.

FIU received 15 points apiece from Jiselle Thomas and Kyla Nelson and Emerald Ekpiteta posted a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.

After watching FIU jump out to a 13-0 lead in the first game of the series, Marshall was the team that started fast Saturday on a triple by Taylor Pearson and back-to-back layups by Roper to grab a 7-0 lead before the Panthers were forced to call timeout.

Marshall's lead reached as many as 10 in the first half and was eight (35-27) at the half.

The third period was all FIU as the Panthers made seven of their 10 shots from the field to just three of 13 for the Herd. That allowed the visitors to outscore Marshall 17-7 and take a 44-42 lead into the final stanza.

The Panthers led by one (45-44) with eight minutes left, but the Herd used Mayo's trio of long-range bombs to take control of the contest. FIU would get no closer than four the rest of the way as the Herd made nine of its 11 fourth-quarter shots.

Dealing the Rejection
Mahogany Matthews rejected two shots against FIU on January 23 and is now second in Conference USA at 2.8 per game. That average is also 15th nationally. As a team, the Herd also leads the conference at 4.9 per game and that is good for 34th in the nation.

Defensive Intensity
It isn't just the block category where the Thundering Herd has showcased its defensive prowess. Marshall is third in C-USA in scoring defense (64.9) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (39.1).

Scouting the Monarchs
ODU is off to a 5-5 start this season and is 2-4 in Conference USA. The Monarchs have not played since January 16 as their last two series (at North Texas, vs. WKU) have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Victoria Morris leads ODU with 15.8 points per game, while Amari Young nets 15.1 and Ajah Wayne adds an average of 14.0. Young and Wayne share the top rebounding honors with 9.3 per contest (fourth and fifth in C-USA). Mariah Adams is the team's top distributor at 3.8 per game. Morris leads the way from the perimeter with 24 made triples on the season.

The Monarchs lead the league in steals per game (8.8), turnover margin (+3.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.07), but are 11th in free throw percentage (63.4), 3-point percentage defense (33.3), rebounding offense (37.6) and 3-pointers made (5.4).

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.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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Players Mentioned

Mahogany Matthews

Kristen Mayo

Taylor Pearson

Lorelei Roper

Savannah Wheeler

Marshall University Athletics