NORFOLK — The Old Dominion women’s basketball team kicked off 2026 with a fireworks display of its own at Chartway Arena Thursday afternoon.
Simaru Fields hit 3 of 4 late free throws to seal an 87-84 double-overtime victory over Sun Belt Conference rival Georgia Southern.
Kayla Cleaveland’s desperation attempt at the buzzer clanged off the rim for the Eagles (9-4, 2-1).
“What a gutsy performance,” Monarchs coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. “You have to compliment both basketball teams. I thought tonight was probably the best performance that we’ve seen thus far. Although it took double overtime to get it, you still have to commend the work that was put in and the effort that they displayed.”
En’Dya Buford and Simone Cunningham drained buckets on back-to-back possessions to give the Monarchs (9-5, 1-1) a 79-75 edge early in double overtime, but McKenna Eddings and Shanti Simmons combined for eight points during an 8-2 run that gave Georgia Southern an 83-81 lead with 1:23 remaining — just the Eagles’ second lead since late in the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Kelsey Thompson followed a shot in from down low, flung a putback attempt at the rim, and soared over opposing players to snag the follow-up rebound and converted the second putback to knot it at 83.
“We did a great job of just being scrappy on the glass,” Milton-Jones said. “We secured the ball, and Thompson put it back in.”
Cunningham rotated off her player to stuff a shot attempt by Simmons with 43.7 seconds remaining that sprung Neveah Scott upcourt for the Monarchs. She was fouled from behind and sank 1 of 2 free throws to put the hosts up. Cunningham again shifted over and swatted away a driving attempt by Destiny Garrett with 23.1 seconds remaining. Garrett attempted another drive following the inbounds pass, but the Monarchs’ defense smothered her and Fields corralled the ball before getting fouled.
“I actually said something to (Cunningham) at halftime and told her just play solid defense,” Milton-Jones said. “But if you’re gonna go for a block, go for the block off the weak side. Not necessarily on the man that you’re guarding, but coming from the weak side to go get it.”
Fields hit the first of two free throws to push the margin to 85-83 with 5.5 seconds showing. A foul on Kishyah Anderson then gave Georgia Southern a tying opportunity, but she was only able to convert one of her foul shots, missing the second. Fields again came up with a crucial rebound and sank both free throws for the final margin.
It was Fields’ heroics in the first overtime that extended the game another period. She knifed through the Georgia Southern defense on two consecutive possessions for a pair of buckets, the latter coming with 18 seconds remaining. Anderson scored four points to give Georgia Southern a 75-71 lead midway through the first extra period.
“We wanted to get some rip actions to set up ball screens on the baseline side since they were trying to force us to not use the screen,” Milton-Jones said. “With (Fields) being as crafty as she is, she was able to get a good straight-line drive and get to the rim and get an open right-handed layup. And once we saw that it worked well, it’s something that we wanted to go back to again.”
Anderson drilled a pair of 3s during an 8-0 blitz down the stretch, and Simmons sank 1 of 2 from the line to pull Georgia Southern level at 71 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
Buford had sparked a 7-0 run with a 3-ball to start the fourth quarter for the Monarchs, who led by as many as nine points, including a 71-62 advantage with 3:51 remaining in regulation. Buford finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“Coach D (Milton-Jones) just kept telling me to play my game and have confidence, no matter what it is I am going through,” Buford said. “When I’m getting prepared for the game, I really just hold on to her words about being aggressive, being the person I am and being that player on the court.”
The Monarchs had jumped out to a 6-0 lead to open the game, then back-to-back 3-pointers by Fields and Buford capped a 12-2 run that boosted the Monarchs to a 22-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Scott flipped in an up-and-under layup off a drive down the right side of the lane midway through the second quarter to give the Monarchs their first double-digit lead at 34-24. Riley Stack scored on three consecutive possessions to extend the advantage to 40-29 with 2:58 remaining in the half, but the hosts were held scoreless the remainder of the period to lead 40-32 at intermission.
Scott sparked a 7-0 run early in the third quarter to give the Monarchs their largest lead at 47-33. But Georgia Southern responded with a 16-2 run of its own, pulling even at 49 with a little more than two minutes remaining. The run was punctuated by five treys, including a trio by Cleaveland.
Scott rattled in a bucket with seven seconds remaining in the period to give the Monarchs a 56- 54 edge heading into the final stanza.
“They did a great job of fighting and competing at a high level,” Milton-Jones said. “We controlled the game for about three quarters, and then we allowed them to kind of get hot from the 3-point line. We knew that they were gonna make some adjustments and have to be a little bit more bold in terms of hunting for shot attempts. But we were able to kind of remedy the storm, regroup and get back to the foundation of what we wanted to do defensively with a minor tweak here or there.”
Stack finished with 20 points, while Fields and Scott respectively chipped in with 17 and 14 for the Monarchs, who next host Georgia State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
