NORFOLK — The Old Dominion women’s basketball team has usually considered Chartway Arena its fortress.
But Jakayla Johnson dropped in a game-high 32 points to pace visiting scrappy Southern Mississippi in an 86-83 overtime victory Friday night.
The Monarchs (13-10, 5-6) had come into the game with a 10-2 home record — including just one loss to Sun Belt opposition.
“We’re extremely disappointed to have a 17-point lead, lose it, and then go to overtime and just fall apart,” ODU coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said. “We didn’t execute anything. We turned the ball over. We had people running from the basketball — the bottom fell out.”
Johnson scored the first six points of the extra period for Southern Miss (12-10, 5-6 Sun Belt), which had lost four straight games.
With less than a minute remaining, En’Dya Buford snagged an errant pass and then was immediately fouled. She drained both free throws to pull the Monarchs to within 86-83.
Simaru Fields had a chance to tie it with 22.4 seconds on the clock, but her 3-point attempt fell short of the rim. Fields then forced a turnover from Johnson, giving the hosts another chance to tie. But, with less than a second on the clock, Kelsey Thompson’s desperation trey flew wide to the right of the backboard.
“Jakayla Johnson, true to form, she was a monster in the overtime period,” Milton-Jones said. “She willed them to victory herself. The same way that we celebrate our wins, we’re gonna learn from this loss — that’s something we’re not accustomed to doing at home.”
Both teams started off at a frenetic pace during a back-and-forth first quarter that saw seven lead changes and two ties. Fields drilled a trey seven seconds before the buzzer to give the Monarchs a 19-18 advantage.
Southern Miss then mounted a 35-27 lead in the second quarter, but the Monarchs chipped away with a 10-2 run in the final three minutes, sparked by Nakiyah Allen’s five points. Thompson sank a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining to knot the score at 37-37 at halftime.
The Monarchs continued to build off their momentum heading into the locker room, speeding out to a 10-1 run in the opening three minutes of the third quarter for a 49-38 advantage. Thompson spurred the run with five points, followed by Fields with another four.
ODU seemed on the way to a comfortable win, with Fields drilling a trey with 2:26 remaining in the period for a 61-44 margin.
But Southern Miss kept grinding away. Johnson scored seven points, including five from the charity stripe, and Carly Keats added a timely fast-break trey to pull the visitors to within 64-55 heading into the fourth quarter.
“It was small things within the fabric of the game. We get a rebound and we’re in a rush to kick it out, and we turn it over,” Milton-Jones said. “You have one or two of those and think, oh, we’re OK. But we just lost two possessions. They then came and scored or went to the free-throw line. The clock has stopped, free throws are being shot, points are on the board, with no clock leaving.”
The Monarchs led 75-65 with a little more than four minutes remaining in regulation before Johnson scored another six points to fuel a 12-2 Southern Miss run. Whitney Hart hit a put-back layup with 16 seconds remaining in regulation to complete the comeback at 77-77 and force overtime.
The Monarchs, who were without Simone Cunningham — the team’s third-leading scorer and top rebounder — due to illness, next travel to Louisiana for a 7 p.m. matchup Wednesday.
