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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Experience trumped lack of depth as Old
Dominion advanced to a spot in the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight
season.
The fourth-seeded Lady Monarchs, with nine players in uniform
for the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional, substituted
liberally Monday night to keep their limited numbers fresh. Six
players saw at least 21 minutes of action on the way to a 96-76
victory over 12th-seeded Southern Methodist.
"Old Dominion can play eight or nine players in a game. It
showed today when we had so many players foul out," said Mustangs
coach Rhonda Rompola, who had two players foul out and two more
earn four fouls apiece.
"It's one thing to be deep on the bench and it's another to
have a lot of playing experience," said Rompola, who played for
Old Dominion from 1978-1981 before playing for SMU her senior year.
Old Dominion will face Louisiana Tech (30-2) in Saturday's
regional semifinals in Kansas City. The Techsters eliminated
Vanderbilt 66-65 Monday night.
Lucienne Berthieu came off the bench and scored 22 points and
the Lady Monarchs had a 50-34 rebounding edge over SMU, fueled by
20 rebounds by Hamchetou Maiga.
"The board effort I thought was significant, starting with
Hamchetou," Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "Overall, we
attacked when we were on offense and defense."
The Lady Monarchs (29-4) went on a 9-3 run to close the first
half ahead 37-30, but the Mustangs (22-9) narrowed the gap to three
after the break.
Old Dominion then expanded its lead to 18 with a 16-3 run over
three minutes -- capped by a 3-pointer by Natalie Diaz -- to make the
score 72-54 with 6:31 to go. Diaz had seven of her 19 points in
that stretch. The Lady Monarchs eventually widened the margin to 21
with field goal with 57 seconds left.
Old Dominion shut down SMU's post players for a long stretch of
the second half.
"We had our hands full," said SMU forward Katie Remke, who was
held to six points. "We didn't do our jobs as post players. We
were fired up and I thought we'd do a good job. We didn't show up
on the inside."
The Lady Monarchs shot 50 percent from the floor to the
Mustangs' 40 percent.
Berthieu was 12-of-19 from the free-throw line in her second
game back since spraining her right shoulder two minutes into a
game against William and Mary on Feb. 18.
"I feel like I spent my night on the foul line," Berthieu
said. "If I could finish better that would be best."
Maiga added 15 points for Old Dominion. Alli Spence had 11 and
Okeisha Howard had 10.
D-dra Rucker led the Mustangs with 27 points. Anika Calvert
added 16 and Nici Johnson had 11.
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
SMU NCAA Team Report
Old Dominion NCAA Team Report
Old Dominion
Southern Methodist
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