— by David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A switch to zone defense, strong ball pressure, late free-throw shooting and Timaya Lewis-Eutsey’s banner effort helped power Marshall past Old Dominion, 77-70, Wednesday night at Cam Henderson Center.
Playing without freshman Olivia Olson, who has a leg injury, the Thundering Herd (14-3, 5-0 Sun Belt) won its ninth straight, while the Monarchs fell to 10-6 and 2-2 in the SBC.
Marshall charged back from an 11-point deficit in the second period to prevail. The Herd finished that period on a 7-0 run to trail 41-37 at the break.
It was all Marshall in the second half.
“Really proud of the effort,” Marshall coach Juli Fulks said. “No Olivia and we made the adjustments. The defensive effort in the first half was a lot of struggles. We needed to be solid on defense the second half and rebound, and we did.”
Lewis-Eutsey finished with a career-best 33 points. She fueled the comeback with nine fourth-quarter points, including the game-tying layup and a clutch jumper with 20 seconds remaining to push the lead to two possessions.
Peyton Ilderton added 12 points and a career-best seven steals.
“We find a way,” Ilderton said. “Something instilled in this team. We prove it time and again. We did a good job down the stretch. We did the things that matter.”
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— Marshall Women’s Basketball (@HerdWBB) January 8, 2026
Marshall forced 25 turnovers and converted the errors into 41 points. The Herd was out-rebounded 42-25, but had the edge in the fourth period.
Timberlynn Yeast’s basket and free throw with 8:06 to play gave Marshall a 59-58 lead, its first since the 7:02 of the first quarter. Old Dominion regained the advantage off a Nevaeh Scott jumper 54 seconds later. The teams traded the lead six times before Kassie Ingram swished a 3-pointer from the right corner to put Marshall ahead 67-65 with 3:38 to play.
The Herd then took over. Lewis-Eutsey blocked a Simone Cunningham shot and Ilderton grabbed the rebound. Kassie Ingram followed with a 3-pointer from the right corner.
The Herd’s Blessing King then swatted a shot by En’Dya Buford. King made two foul shots and ODU coach DeLisha Milton-Jones vehemently protested, drawing a technical foul. Ilderton canned both technical free throws to make it 71-65.
“The team understands the plan and how to get the win,” Ilderton said.
The Monarchs pulled within 71-69 and trailed 73-70 with 48 seconds left. Lewis Eutsey dribbled out 21 seconds before scoring from the lane for a 75-70 advantage. Ilderton sank a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left.
Marshall enjoyed quite the advantage at the free-throw line and scored 15 of 24 fourth-quarter points on foul shots to finish 23 of 29, compared to ODU making 5-of-7 attempts.
Lewis-Eutsey thrived on her 1-on-1 work against the defense of the Monarchs.
“I saw what they were doing. Attack and get downhill,” Lewis-Eutsey said. “No extra pressure.”
“She’s a good shooter and she has good shooters around her,” Fulks said. “She can go 1-on-1 and she has ability to find shooters when she is guarded.”
The Herd held the Monarchs to 29 points in the second half.
“Made adjustments,” Fulks said. “Able to pull them out. Had two huge threes and we made our free throws. We run plays and get people in the right places.”
Marshall’s 14-3 start is its best to open a season since 1986-87 when the Herd went 24-5 and claimed a share of the Southern Conference title.
Simaru Fields led Old Dominion with 19 points. Kelsey Thompson added 12, Buford 11 and Riley Stack 10.
The Monarchs had held foes under 60 points nine times before Wednesday and won eight.
Both teams return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday. Marshall is home vs. Coastal Carolina (7-9, 0-4) and Old Dominion visits Georgia Southern (10-4, 3-1).
“We had people play out of position,” Fulks said. “We have to figure things out.”