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ODU women rally twice to beat Florida Atlantic

Down 11-0 to start the game, the Monarchs won their first home game played in 36 days, 61-48

NORFOLK, Va. — It was 36 days since the ODU women last played at Chartway Arena. They must have forgotten for a moment what home court advantage was supposed to be about. After spotting Florida Atlantic an 11-0 lead to start the game, the Monarchs recovered to win 61-48.

It took a strong fourth quarter from Ajah Wayne to make it all possible. The Owls had a one point lead to start the final stanza but Wayne went to work right away and scored the first 4 points of the quarter. The Monarchs never trailed again. Wayne finished with a game high 22 points. 

Amari Young came into the game one point short of 1,000 career points. "I knew I needed one point," said the senior from North Augusta, South Carolina in joking fashion. She added 10 more points and six rebounds.

"To score 1,000 points is a significant achievement," Milton-Jones said.

Wayne, a senior from Birmingham, Alabama, also broke the 1,000-point mark earlier this season. Although both are seniors, they have a year of eligibility remaining because of the pandemic.

"Weezy is the kind of player who can put our team on her back and will us to a victory," Milton-Jones said, using Wayne's nickname. "She was just a bull."

Iggy Allen, the senior from Pompano Beach, Florida, struggled to make shots but scored 13 against the Owls, for whom she played last season. Milton-Jones said Allen was nervous playing against her former teammates and that she was pushing her shots.

"I expected it to look like this because when you're playing your former team, there are all kinds of mixed emotions that you are having," Milton-Jones said. "No matter how hard you try to focus and pretend it doesn't matter, it matters."

That the game was competitive was a major tribute to FAU, which was without three of its top seven scorers and had a nightmarish and tiring trip from Boca Raton, Florida to Norfolk. The flight carrying the Owls to Norfolk attempted to land Sunday night and pilots determined it wasn't safe because of high winds.

The flight was diverted to Raleigh, where the Owls slept in the clothes they wore on the flight – their luggage did not make it to Raleigh.

They bused to Norfolk Monday morning, causing the game time to be delayed from 1:30 until 6:30.

FAU's five starters, including two players who don't usually start, all played at least 34 minutes. The Owls (4-11, 0-4) got no points and only 20 minutes of playing time from its four-women bench. It was the sixth loss in a row for FAU.

FAU kept it close with a zone defense and dared the Monarchs to beat them from outside. ODU took 25 more shots than FAU, but made just 23 of 71 (32.4 percent) and one of 19 three-pointers (5.3 percent).

"We're going to see that zone every game, and people are going to bank on the fact that we're not going to make shots," Milton-Jones said. "The iron has just been unkind to us for whatever reason.

"But I want my players to remain confident. The three-point shot is something we're not afraid to take.

"There's going to come a time when we start hitting and people are really going to be in trouble."

Game Notes
Amari Young scored 11 points – nine in the first half – and became the 35th member of the 1,000-point club at Old Dominion. Young now has 1,010 points and is 12 points behind Shae Kelley (2012-14) for 34th place on the all-time scoring list at ODU. Young also grabbed six rebounds, matched a season high with three assists and had three steals and a pair of blocks.
 
The Monarchs held an eight opponent under 50 points. ODU entered the day ranked first in Conference USA and sixth nationally in scoring defense (50.3). Additionally, the Owls became the fourth team to commit 30 or more turnovers in a game. Old Dominion is the conference leader and is top-15 in the nation in forced turnovers.
 
ODU held sizeable advantages in points off turnovers (28-12), points in the paint (34-16), second-chance points (17-5) and bench points (13-0).
 
Ajah Wayne scored a game-high 22 points – her third 20-point game of the season and the 14th of her career. She shot 8-of-16 from the field and was 6-of-6 from the foul line. She now has 1,155 points in her career.
 
Iggy Allen had her 16th career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Allen also chipped in three steals, matching the game high.
 
Mariah Adams had five assists and three steals. That's her seventh game this season with five or more assists and her seventh game with three-plus steals. Adams is averaging 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game over the last five games.
 
The Monarchs improve to 5-1 at home and have won their last three at home.

 




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