Herd, Monarchs Battle in Norfolk on Thursday

NORFOLK, Va. – The Marshall and Old Dominion women's basketball teams will do battle Thursday evening in Norfolk's Chartway Arena. Tip time is set for 6:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on CUSA.tv.

The Thundering Herd enters the game with a 12-10 overall record and 7-6 in Conference USA play. The Monarchs are 19-5 and 9-3 in the league, and find themselves amongst a logjam at the top of the East Division with Charlotte (9-2), WKU (10-3) and Middle Tennessee (9-3).

The two teams met on February 3 in Huntington, with ODU emerging with a 62-47 victory.

Game Details
Game Notes: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/herdzone.com/documents/2022/2/16/2_17_22_ODU_Notes.pdf
Live Stats: https://odusports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
Live Video: https://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=15216
Marshall Radio: online at https://www.marshall.edu/wmul/wmul-stream-2/ with Jason Corriher
Series History: 17 all-time meetings – Old Dominion leads 12-5
Last Meeting: February 3, 2022 in Huntington, W.Va. – Old Dominion won 62-47.

Last Time Out
Marshall got 16 points apiece from Savannah Wheeler and Aaliyah Dunham, while its defense shut down UTEP's long-range attack as the Thundering Herd defeated the Miners 60-48 Sunday at the Cam Henderson Center.

UTEP fell to 13-10 and 5-8 in the league. Saturday's result was also Marshall's seventh consecutive win over the Miners inside the Cam Henderson Center.

The Thundering Herd limited UTEP to just a 2-for-14 effort (14.3) percent from 3-point range with the first make coming in the final minute of the third quarter.

Lorelei Roper had a game-high 12 rebounds, while Dunham added four assists and Wheeler recorded three steals.

Dunham turned in her second impressive perimeter performance in as many games. She followed Thursday's 4-for-8 outing at FIU with a 4-for-6 clip Sunday afternoon.

Avery Crouse never came off the floor for the visitors and finished with 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting. She and Elina Arike finished with six rebounds apiece and Mahri Petree added three steals.

Wheeler and UTEP's Katia Gallegos, both preseason all-Conference USA selections, were charged with seven turnovers apiece. But while Wheeler was able to find the range offensively, the Herd did not allow Gallegos to do so. The El Paso, Texas native struggled to a 2-for-9 shooting day, despite managing a team-high four assists.

Marshall led for nearly the entire first quarter before UTEP's Brenda Fontana made a putback with 10 seconds left to give the visitors their first lead.

The game was tied at 15 with three minutes left in the second period, but Marshall exploded for an 11-2 run, which included baskets from four different players and was punctuated by a Dunham triple to end the half.

UTEP cut the MU lead to five (42-37) on an Arike free throw 38 seconds into the fourth quarter. However, the Thundering Herd pulled away again, this time using a 9-2 spurt that included 3-pointers by Dunham and Alexis Johnson. That gave the home team a 12-point advantage (51-39) with 6:26 left and the lead never dropped into single-digits the rest of the way.

The Thundering Herd led for all but four minutes Sunday.

Wheeler now has 1,165 career points and moved within 26 of Cindy McCauley for 11th on the school's all-time scoring list. She also hit three free throws Sunday, which pushed her past Leah Scott (2013-16) for fourth on that list. She now has 340 over the course of her Thundering Herd career.

Brianah Ferby added five points during the win, giving her 981 over a career that begin at Austin Peay and will end with Marshall.

The Opponent
The Monarchs come into Thursday's contest at 19-5 overall and 9-3 in Conference USA.

The team went 10-2 in non-conference play.

Iggy Allen leads ODU in scoring (14.9) and rebounding (7.7-fifth in C-USA), while Mariah Adams contributes 4.3 assists (fourth in C-USA) and 2.1 steals per game. Brianna Jackson is a force on the inside, rejecting 1.7 shots (third in C-USA) per contest.

Amari Young (54.7 percent) is the Monarchs' most accurate shooter and Kaye Clark (32.6 percent) has the highest three-point percentage. Adams leads the way at the free throw line, making 80.5 percent.

ODU boasts the league's stingiest scoring defense (53.8) and also leads in field goal percentage defense (36.4), blocked shots (4.5) and turnover margin (+5.75). However, the Monarchs are C-USA's worst free throw shooting team, making just 62.4 percent.

The head coach is DeLisha Milton-Jones, who is in her second year at the helm of the Monarchs.

In the all-time series between the two schools, ODU has won 12 of 17 meetings, including six of seven in Norfolk since joining Conference USA.

Equality and Inclusion Night
The Thundering Herd will take part in Rising Coaches' Equality & Inclusion Night next Thursday, February 24 when Middle Tennessee visits for a 6 p.m. tip. Marshall will be adorned in its black uniforms for the game and staff members will wear an "equal sign" lapel pin that symbolizes equality. The effort is part of a national campaign designed to use the college basketball platform to keep equality in the national conversation.

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 HerdZone.com.

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