NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion opened up a 17 point halftime advantage en route to a 71-43 win over the Tigers on Sunday afternoon in Colonial Athletic Association play. Towson (7-11, 1-6 CAA) was led by eight points and seven rebounds from Jaleesa Dryver.
"We got off to a slow start and had the same problems today that we have had all year," said Coach Joe Mathews. "We need to find a way to get better in all aspects. Congratulations to Coach Wendy Larry who earned her 600th career victory today."
With the scored tied at 5-5 early in the first half, Old Dominion used an 11-0 run to open up a 16-5 advantage. Alena Voronina had six of the Lady Monarchs' 11 during that run. A bucket by Krystal Parnell at 9:38 briefly broke up the run for the home team. Old Dominion outscored the Tigers 19-11 over the final 9:30 of the half to take a 35-18 advantage at the break.
Old Dominion shot 46.2% from the floor and 69.2% in the first half. Voronina and Jo Guilford had eight points apiece after the first 20 minutes to lead the Lady Monarchs. Towson shot 30% from the floor in the first half and got seven points off the bench from Parnell.
The Tigers and Monarchs traded baskets to begin the second half as a Dryver lay-up at 16:07 made it a 39-22 game. The two teams continued to trade buckets as a Tanisha McTiller bucket at 12:23 made it a 43-26 game. Jasmine Parker and Kquanise Byrd hit back-to-back triples to put Old Dominion up 51-27 with 9:53 to play. Old Dominion scored 20 of the final 36 points in the game to give Larry the milestone victory.
Old Dominion shot 41.9% from the floor in the second half and got eight second half points from Parker and Byrd. Towson shot 40% from the floor in the final 20 minutes and got six second-half tallies from Dryver.
Dryver led the Tigers with her eight points and a season-high seven rebounds. She also added three steals in the game. Parnell added seven points, three assists and three steals while Dovile Miliauskaite led the Tigers on the boards with eight. Miliauskaite also had five points and three blocked shots.
Voronina led Old Dominion with 13 points, six rebounds and five steals. Byrd tallied 12 points and four assists while Parker contributed 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Towson remains on the road for its next contest. The Tigers will visit Northeastern on Thursday, January 27 for a 7 p.m. contest.
-- TOWSONTIGERS.COM --
