Monarchs unbeaten no more

Rams dominate second quarter, stay in control

The Old Dominion women’s basketball team endured its first loss of the season Sunday, falling 64-50 to VCU at Siegel Center.

The Rams (10-1) went ahead to stay, 22-19, with 6:05 left in the second quarter when Sarah Te-Biasu sank a 3-pointer. They closed the second quarter with a 10-0 run in the last 2:50 to move ahead 34-21.

ODU (8-1), which began the game leading the nation in scoring defense, held VCU to 36.7% shooting but only hit 33.9% and was outrebounded 44-30. The Monarchs never closed the gap to fewer than seven points in the second half.

“We went away from everything that has been working for us, and that’s not following the scouting,” ODU coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said on odusports.com. “We did things that were uncharacteristic of us and uncharacteristic of us being successful.”

Te-Biasu’s 13 points and Timaya Lewis-Eutsey’s 11 led VCU, which was won seven games in a row since losing at James Madison. Mary-Anna Asare scored nine, and Mykel Parham and Jennifer Ezeh added eight each.

En’Dya Buford led ODU with 15 points, but none of her teammates joined her in double digits. Mimi McCollister hit both of her 3-point tries and finished with nine points, but her teammates were 2 of 14 from beyond the arc.

Jordan McLaughlin led ODU with six rebounds, but VCU held her to 2-of-11 shooting and one assist.

It wasn’t the way ODU wanted to head into its most high-profile home game in years: Wednesday’s 6:30 p.m. Anne Donovan Classic matchup against thirdranked North Carolina State. The Monarchs had started 8-0 for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

“I’m super-excited about the game on the 20th,” Milton-Jones said. “I’m really expecting a very nice crowd in Chartway Arena and I’m expecting our players to come out with a mindset of redemption.”