Norfolk, VA (Jan. 4) - Old Dominion's senior forward Tia Lewis, a Georgia native, scored a career-high 30 points to lead her team to a 68-59 Colonial Athletic Association victory over Georgia State Wednesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
ODU opened a 13-point halftime lead and grew the advantage to 18 points at 50-32 with 14:48 to go. But, GSU's bench rallied and closed that gap down to just four points, 59-55, with five minutes to play and possession of the ball. ODU made free throws down the stretch to close out the win.
Head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener elected to go with young players in the second half as four freshmen all logged 20 or more minutes.
The Panthers bench scored 33 of the 59 points this evening. Junior forward Nicole Hargraves led with 10 points, while junior Tiffany Anderson added nine points and a team-best seven rebounds. Freshman Kayla Nolan had six points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Freshman Miranda Smith had six points, five rebounds and three assists, while freshman Ashley Watson also added six points. Leading scorer Kendra Long had 6 points in her 16 minutes, second-leading scorer Chan Harris had two points in her 11 minutes, starting center Cody Paulk had two points in her nine minutes and leading assist-leader Jerlisa Taylor had two points and two assist in her 15 minutes.
"We came out flat at the start and I was not pleased with the effort, and certainly tried to let the team know that at halftime," Baldwin-Tener said.
"The group of kids that played the second half competed, fought and played with a lot of energy. I am proud of the way they tried to win and outscored ODU in the second half," she continued.
In the second half, GSU basically played with four guards, using 5-foot-9 Tiffany Anderson as the post player. It actually worked as GSU held a 20-14 rebound advantage in the second half and 36-35 margin for the game. The Panthers got more aggressive in the second half and outscored ODU, 33-29, while holding ODU to 39 percent shooting in the second half.
"We gave up way too many easy shots and uncontested baskets in that first half," Baldwin-Tener repeated. "We never got to the foul line in the first half and that speaks loudly of what kind of effort we were giving. We have to learn from this, be ready to play a full 40 minutes, and be prepared from the opening tip."
GSU returns to Atlanta to face James Madison on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
