Monarchs keep Cinderella hopes alive
Prior to the start of the Conference USA tournament, Old Dominion coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said that her team had a chance to be “the Cinderella of the dance.”
The fairy tale continued Wednesday as the Monarchs upset third-seeded North Texas 71-66 in the first round of the C-USA tournament in Frisco, Texas. ODU, a No. 6 seed, won a preliminary-round game Tuesday.
Old Dominion’s Ajah Wayne erupted
for 26 points and 16 rebounds, both season-highs, against North Texas.
“She was everything for us,” MiltonJones said. “In the first half alone, she kept us in the game just with her grit and her hard work and her resiliency.”
In a game where the teams combined for 7-of-35 shooting from beyond the arc, Wayne dominated inside, going 11 of 15 from the field and scoring 15 of her team’s 29 first-half points.
The Monarchs will face Charlotte in today’s quarterfinal at 12:30 p.m.
During the regular season, ODU lost twice to the 49ers in the midst of their four-game slide while dealing with the aftermath of a midseason COVID stoppage. In the first game, the Monarchs lost 102-95 in double-overtime. Despite
playing shorthanded through the bulk of both overtime periods, ODU came close to pulling out a victory, something that is encouraging for the team as they head into the rematch.
Another big confidence boost for ODU is Wayne, who missed both prior games against Charlotte and should be a major factor in today’s game.
“Ajah is the type of player where she’s going to be high on the scouting report,” MiltonJones said. “What she does on the offensive glass, what she does in transition, what she does defensively. We can post her up, we can have her playing outside on the 3-point line and have her penetrate to the rim. She’s going to draw a lot of attention in a lot of good ways for us ... and it should be a concern for them, seeing that we have basically a double-double coming back into the game.”
Emma Villas-Gomis led North Texas with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while ODU’s Victoria Morris finished with 15 points.
Heading into the quarterfinals, the Monarchs are leaning into their underdog status as they continue to write their story.
“I hear them calling themselves underdog,” Milton-Jones said. “... When you have that type of mentality and it permeates throughout the team, then everyone’s fighting with the same type of grit and mental toughness that’s required for us to go out and take down any Goliath that’s in front of us.”
After missing out on a chance to get to this point last season due to the COVID-19 cancellation, Wayne is determined to make every moment on the court count.
“Last year, we were all pumped. We had a good team last year, we knew we had a big shot at it last year. I think we were (seeded) No. 2, we were really ready to play and just them taking that game away from us and that opportunity, I think it gave us some momentum coming this year,” Wayne said. “Being the underdogs, it doesn’t really matter. They tell you you have nothing to lose, but we have everything to win, so I guess that’s our mentality this year. And since they took it away from us last year, we’re trying to get it this year.”