WNIT: End of the road for ODU, Liberty

Wednesday's results

Loyola (Md.) 67, Old Dominion 65: Sounds weird, doesn't it? But this wasn't a fluke as the Greyhounds outrebounded the Lady Monarchs, ran their stuff with precision and got an out-of-this-world performance from Katie Sheahin, a 5-10 sophomore who scored 27 points and buried a 3-pointer over 6-2 Alena Voronina, among others, with 3.1 seconds to go for the game-winner. The decisive sequence began with Loyola inbounding the ball with 9.9 seconds left, and ODU (20-11) had two fouls to give. But due to some miscommunication within the coaching staff, the Lady Monarchs defended honestly, and Sheahin made them pay. Jasmine Parker's prayer 30-footer at the buzzer was off line, clinching the Greyhounds' first postseason victory since 1995 and boosting Loyola (21-12) into a second-round game against Thursday's Virginia-Morgan State winner. And so ended the 2010-11 Lady Monarchs season, in defeat to the MAAC runners-up in the off-Broadway WNIT in front of 450 people at the Constant Center. Hard to believe this was the same team that knocked off NCAA qualifiers Georgia Tech and Louisville and, less than three weeks ago, had its way with Delaware. But that's the point. For reasons that aren't clear from the outside, at this stage of the season ODU simply wasn't the same team.

Charlotte 62, Liberty 56: The Lady Flames (22-11) had nothing at the outset, as they fell behind 17-4 and were down 19 late in the first half. But credit Liberty for figuring some things out, as they battled back to within four points on three occasions before finally succumbing. As we feared, turnovers played a huge role in Liberty's demise, as fast-breaking Charlotte turned the Lady Flames' 22 giveaways into 24 points. Avery Warley and Devon Brown each finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds - all but 6 of their 28 combined points came in the second half. Epiphany Woodson led all scorers with 22 points for Charlotte (24-9), which will visit South Carolina on Sunday in a WNIT second-round game.

In other WNIT action Wednesday, Toledo used 3 3-pointers to erase an 8-point deficit in the final 3 minutes and surge past Delaware 58-55 at Toledo. Blue Hens star Elena Delle Donne finished with 31 points on 10-of-24 shooting for the Blue Hens (20-14), who will return all five starters next season.