At the start of the first quarter, Old Dominion looked like they were going to cruise right past the Thundering Herd. Since they were coming off a gallant 84-82 overtime victory against the Georgia Southern Eagles (11-4), the Monarch’s momentum was no surprise, especially with a fired-up crowd cheering non-stop behind them. 

ODU, with fifteen points, kept Marshall to just five points for the first 6:40 seconds of the first quarter. However, momentum began to shift when Marshall’s junior guard Roshala Scott hit a three-point jumper. From that point on, ODU scored only two more points while Marshall scored seven, closing the Monarch’s lead to just two points (17-15) by the end of the quarter.

From the second quarter onward the game stayed neck and neck, with both teams battling back and forth for the lead. Looking to keep their momentum going, the Herd’s junior guard Abby Beeman scored a game-tying layup (17-17) at the beginning of the second. However, junior guard Althea Kara Angeles responded with a layup of her own. Seconds later, the Herd’s hope and momentum mounted when they scored another layup, which tied the game again (19-19).

Senior guard Kaye Clark eventually put that hope to bed by draining a three-pointer and making consecutive hustle plays that put the Monarchs up 26-19. In little over a minute, she scored seven straight points off forced turnovers for the Monarchs, increasing their lead. Junior guard Jordan McLaughlin commanded the team on the defense front for the remainder of the quarter. After scoring a crucial three-pointer late in the second, she followed the play with a steal, leading to a layup of her own which resulted in an 8-0 scoring run for ODU. The defensive intensity by Clark and McLaughlin led to ten of Marshall’s turnovers, in which the Monarchs earned fifteen points. This allowed the Monarchs to maintain a nice lead and outlast the Herd at the end of the second quarter 36-29.

After leading throughout the entire first half, ODU found themselves trailing for the first time when Marshall’s Terah Harness drained a three late in the third quarter, putting Marshall up by three (43-40). The quarter went back and forth as neither team led by more than three points. Both teams put up a tough fight, but Marshall fought harder, outscoring ODU 20-11. Their bench and ability to get in the paint did most of the work; they scored thirteen points off the bench and twelve points in the paint. The Herd was back in the game. Tied 47-47 with less than a minute to go in the third, they bested ODU 49-47 after Beeman drained two free throws due to a technical foul called on head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones. 

On the subject of the technical foul, Milton-Jones said she “felt like Amari was fouled for the 10th time. He (the referee) tried to come at me and tell me that she was not, and I stood my ground and said she was.” from that point, she waved the ref off after being waved off herself, resulting in the technical foul.

After a Marshall comeback, ODU quickly turned things around when Joy Campbell drew a massive charge at the beginning of the fourth. This fired up the Monarchs on the defensive end. They forced Marshall to run down their shot clock on every possession, leading to consecutive misses and turnovers. Marshall shot 2-11 from the field, 1-6 from behind the arc, and had five turnovers. 

With three minutes of play left, the game remained down to the wire. ODU’s Jatyjia Jones, who had a clutch performance, hit a pump fake jumper to put the Monarchs up 56-51. A successful layup on the next play by Marshall’s redshirt-junior Mahogany Matthews made the game a three-point differential. Fortunately for ODU, a hustle offensive rebound by Clark led to an AND-1 by ODU’s senior forward Amari Young. In a matter of seconds, Clark managed to draw a foul and sink two clutch free throws, putting the Monarchs up by six points. For the remaining two minutes, ODU kept their six-point lead.

Beeman made another clutch shot to bring the Herd within three points (56-59). Head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was forced to burn a timeout. The play she drew up did not go as planned when Joy Campbell missed a key shot for the Monarchs. But lo and behold, Clark was there to save them with another hustle offensive rebound. With another chance to make a key play and seal the deal for ODU, Campbell missed again, this time two key free throws. With the defensive rebound, head coach Tony Kemper burned a full timeout. Just like ODU, his team was unable to execute a play out of the timeout and Scott missed a game-tying three pointer. Jones got the defensive rebound, forcing Beeman to foul.

This time Jones was at the line to hit crucial free throws. With nine seconds left on the clock, she sunk both. Once again forced to call a timeout, Kemper tried to draw up another play. This time the ball went to graduate forward/ center Shanniah Wright, who went on to miss a key layup for Marshall. With four seconds left to play, Kaye Clark got fouled intentionally after her defensive rebound. She drained both to officially call the game for the Monarchs. 

With this 63-56 win, the Monarchs moved to 4-2 in conference play and a four-game win streak. This win continues their undefeated home winning streak of 9-0. 

This week the Monarchs will have a two-game road trip when they travel to face off against Louisiana (3-3 in conference play) on Jan. 19 and Georgia State (2-4 in conference play) on Jan. 21. Their next home game will be against Texas State on Jan. 26. at 6:30 p.m.. The theme for the game will be Teacher’s Appreciation Night.