ODU women struggle after hot start, fall at home to Louisiana

NORFOLK — Jaylyn James dropped in 13 of her 16 points during the second half, including four free throws in the final 75 seconds, to lift Louisiana to a 66-61 victory over the Old Dominion women’s basketball team Thursday night before 1,745 at Chartway Arena.

Ashlyn Jones was fouled as she sank a bucket late in the third quarter, and her ensuing free throw gave the Ragin’ Cajuns (5-6, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference) a 45-42 lead they would never relinquish. They converted 13 of 17 from the free-throw line over the final five-plus minutes to hold off any semblance of an ODU comeback in a back-and-forth evening that had 11 lead changes and four ties.

“What we’re normally known for is our defense, and tonight it just seemed like we were doing some things that were uncharacteristic of us,” said Monarchs coach DeLisha Milton-Jones, whose team allowed Louisiana to shoot 48% from the floor. “We were undisciplined in many areas tonight and it showed forth in a big way. They had big scoring quarters.”

After ODU jumped to an 18-7 first-quarter lead, Louisiana whittled away, scoring 21 points in both the second and fourth quarters.

“I felt like that’s when we played our best defense,” Milton-Jones said of her team’s effort in the opening stanza. “But then we fell apart as the game progressed.”

ODU senior point guard Jordan McLaughlin had seven of her game-high 22 points in the opening quarter, while fellow guards Mimi McCollister and Kaye Clark chipped in five and four points, respectively.

“I think the clear advantage we had was our ability to get in the paint, whether it was from our guard play or pounding the ball inside through our post play, ” Milton-Jones said. “For some reason, we went away from that and we weren’t attacking as much as we did initially,”

It’s the third time this season McLaughlin has scored 22, matching her point totals against William & Mary and Florida Gulf Coast.

Tamera Johnson scored 20 points to lead Louisiana, which splashed in 6 of 14 from beyond the 3-point arc. James was 3 of 4 from long distance.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” Milton-Jones said. “They came on the road in a gym that people usually leave from with a loss and they had a gutsy win.”

The Monarchs (9-3, 1-1) got off to slow starts after breaks, going scoreless for almost five minutes to begin the second quarter and a little more than three minutes after halftime. They next host Southern Mississippi at 1 p.m. Saturday.