Poor shooting plagued the Old Dominion women in their season opener Monday night as they lost 58-52 to Massachusetts at Chartway Arena in the MAC-SBC Challenge.

The Monarchs shot just 28.6% (22 of 77) overall and missed 12 of their first 15 layups. Though they pulled within three late, UMass held on. Yahmani McKayle led the visitors with 14 points.

“They looked like a well-oiled machine, and we did not,” Monarchs coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said on odusports.com.

Laila Walker, a 6-foot-4 senior who played for Jackson State and Louisiana Monroe before transferring to ODU, was 7 of 8 from the floor and had 14 points and nine rebounds in less than 15 minutes of action. It was almost 10 points more than average for ULM.

Also for the Monarchs, En’Dya Buford had 15 points and Simone Cunningha

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