STATESBORO - Georgia Southern women's basketball dropped a 70-50 Sun Belt decision to visiting Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles (13-4, 3-2 SBC) were held to their lowest point total in nearly four years by the Sun Belt's top defensive team in the Monarchs (12-3, 4-1 SBC), who entered the game giving up just 54.4 points per game.
The first quarter was an even affair as both teams scored 16 points, but ODU held the Eagles to just three field goals in the second quarter to take a 35-25 lead at the break.
Georgia Southern then hit just 9-of-31 shots from the field after the break (29 percent) as the Monarchs cruised to the victory.
Terren Ward led the Eagles with 16 points and six steals, while Eden Johnson added 13 points. Old Dominion was led by 12 points apiece from Brenda Fontana and Jordan McLaughlin.
Eagle of the Game
Johnson hit 5-of-9 shots from the floor, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, while adding six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. The redshirt senior is hitting 40% (8-of-20) from three-point range over her last four games.
Stats of the Game
Old Dominion held a 34-18 edge in points in the paint and outrebounded the top rebounding team in the nation by a 42-37 margin.
Quotables
Head coach Anita Howard on the loss to the Monarchs
"This just wasn't our game. Although Old Dominion played really well, we just didn't play our game today. Whatever the reason, we have to be able to put two games together over a weekend and I don't think we've done that yet this season."
Coach Howard on her message to the team after today's game
"We talk about not taking off possessions, right? I thought we took off a lot of possessions early on. Again, that second quarter bit us and the turnover bug came back to bite us. We didn't rebound the ball, we didn't push our pace of play. That's something we have to fix. Because if we don't fix that, then anyone can come in here and beat us on any given night."
Next Up
Georgia Southern hits the road to travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on James Madison on Thursday, January 18, in a 5 p.m. Sun Belt Conference contest.
