VMI stuns FCS No. 10 Furman
Reece Udinski, the Southern Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, passed for 248 yards and a pair of touchdowns as VMI began its coronavirus-delayed season by edging Furman, the nation’s 10th-ranked FCS team, 14-13 on Saturday in Lexington.
The Paladins were driving into winning fieldgoal range until a turnover with 47 seconds left. Furman, which started its final drive pinned at its own 11, had advanced to the VMI 24 when a thirddown snap bounced off the hip of Ryan DeLucca, who was in motion behind the line of scrimmage. The ball bounced right to VMI’s Carter Johnson, who was crashing through the line of scrimmage, and Johnson wrapped it up to clinch the victory.
Cox High alum Cole Johnson threw for two touchdowns, Percy Agyei-Obese added two scores on the ground and James Madison scored 27 unanswered points to beat Robert Morris 36-16 Saturday in Harrisonburg.
The Dukes (2-0), ranked second in FCS, could move to No. 1 in the next poll because North Dakota State was upset by Southern Illinois on Saturday. JMU dominated the third quarter by outgaining RMU 140-34. Johnson was 17 of 24 with three first-half interceptions.
Middle Tennessee 74, ODU 70
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — One quarter from a sweep of the Conference USA East Division leaders, the Old Dominion Monarchs (8-10, 5-9) fell Saturday as the Blue Raiders (13-6, 11-3) earned a split of their two-game series by outscoring ODU 25-14 in the fourth period.
ODU lost despite Ajah Wayne’s 14 points and 15 rebounds. Middle Tennessee’s Aislynn Hayes had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Blue Raiders took the lead to stay, 69-68, on Deja Cage’s 3-pointer at the 1:24 mark.
On Friday, ODU won 74-57.
In that series opener, Wayne had 12 rebounds and 18 points despite hitting just 3 of 14 free throws — ODU was 11 of 26 at the line for the night.
Amari Young had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Maggie Robinson scored 14 and Aziah Hudson added 11 points.
Anastasia Hayes had 32 points for MTSU, but her teammates added just 25 and made just 10 of 39 field-goal attempts.
Leading 62-55 with 6:45 to go, ODU yielded just two points thereafter and pulled away.
“We felt like this was our game for the taking based off the matchups, who we are defensively and offensively,” MiltonJones said on odusports.com. “Our girls came out a little slow in the beginning, but once we got our momentum, there was no looking back.”
Virginia Wesleyan 81, Ferrum 79
VIRGINIA BEACH — Sabrina Jones made a tie-breaking layup just before the final buzzer as the Marlins (5-6, 4-4 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) overcame the Panthers (1-9, 1-8) at TowneBank Arena.
Ferrum led 42-30 halftime, but Virginia Wesleyan whittled away and came back behind five double-digit scorers: Sabrina Jones with 17, S’Zahria Jones with 15, Jessica Jennings with
13, Celeste Rucker with 12 and Bianca Atkinson with 10. Sabrina Jones grabbed 10 rebounds, and Rucker had five assists.
Kayla Cabiness led Ferrum with 18 points.
Exhibition: CNU 108, Averett 58
DANVILLE — Christopher Newport shot 58% from the field as it improved to 4-1 in the exhibition season with its fourth straight victory, defeating the Cougars (4-8).
Rookie Alivia Giles, from Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, led all scorers with 17 points to lead four Captains in double figures. Fellow freshman Camille Malagar added 13, sophomore Anaya Simmons had 11 and junior Julia Ng finished with 10.
Late Friday
No. 10 UCLA 93, USC 51
LOS ANGELES — Charisma Osborne recorded the ninth triple-double in UCLA history, Michaela Onyenwere scored 30 points in her final home game, and the Bruins (14-4, 12-4 Pac-12) made a school-record 16 3-pointers to rout Southern California (10-11, 8-10).
Osborne had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in 34 minutes. Alissa Pili led USC with 18 points and Jordyn Jenkins scored 14.
This was the final game for both teams before next week’s Pac-12 tournament.