Simaru Fields banked in a three-point shot with 2.4 seconds remaining to give Old Dominion women's basketball a 68-66 Sun Belt victory over visiting Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at Chartway Arena in Norfolk.
The Monarchs (16-13, 8-8 SBC) notched their second straight win, while Georgia Southern (12-17, 4-12 SBC) dropped its second in a row.
The Eagles rode the hot hand of Indya Green to a 30-28 halftime lead. Green had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half alone.
In the second half, the game remained tight as the two teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 46-all. With 4:14 left in the contest, it was tied at 58-all, and the host Monarchs led by three, 65-62, on a three-pointer from Kelsey Thompson with 1:21 left.
A foul by the Monarchs with 59.1 seconds left sent Nakiyah Mays-Prince to the line for the Eagles, and she knocked down both free throws to close the gap to one. On the next possession, Nicole Gwynn came up with a steal and was fouled in the backcourt. She hit both free throws with 46 seconds left to put the Eagles back up by one.
Old Dominion got the ball back with 19 seconds left after a missed shot by the Eagles. Fields then hit the game-winning three at the top of the key, and after a time out by Georgia Southern, the Eagles' game-winning three as time expired was off the mark.
Gwynn finished the day with a game-high 22 points, while Green had 14 points and Leah Johnson added 13 points. Old Dominion was led by Thompson's 14 points and 12 points from Brenda Fontana.
Eagle of the Game
Green notched her team-leading seventh double-double on the day, recording a season-high 15 rebounds to go with her 14 points.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on the difference in the game against the Monarchs.
"It was a game of mistakes, the margin of error was small between us and ODU tonight. Both teams played really hard, and I thought we played hard enough to win it. Just came down to execution or mistakes down the stretch and they made one more play than we did."
On the takeaway from two close games on the road into the final week of the regular season at home
"We're really close and we've cleaned a lot of things up. I think we're going to look back at the execution, some of the early shots we took, to try and get something a little bit better. It's progress that we're in the position late in the game. We'll take a look at that late game execution and see what myself and our staff has to do better."
Next Up
Georgia Southern returns home to Statesboro for the final two games of the 2024-25 regular season, beginning with a 6 p.m. contest against App State on Wednesday at The Hill.