Believe the hype, folks. About this Old Dominion team, and about the magic poised to ensue when defending Conference USA champion Rice hit town Thursday night.

The much-ballyhooed Old Dominion-Rice showdown lived up to every bit of its billing, as the (Lady) Monarchs took down the high-flying Owls 66-59 in overtime to snap Rice’s 30-game conference winning streak before a boisterous crowd of 2,732 at Chartway Arena.

“It felt like my days at Tennessee, my days at South Carolina,” ODU coach Nikki McCray said of the love showered upon her players throughout. “At times I couldn’t even hear myself. But our kids deserve this.”

Ajah Wayne, who sat out ODU’s last two game with injury and was a game-time decision Thursday, was an attack-the-rim demon against the taller Owls and finished with a team-high 21 points. (Amazing) Amari Young added 15 points and 11 boards and Taylor Edwards chipped in 14 points in what stands as the defining win of the brief (but increasingly successful) McCray era.

The victory was ODU’s 10th straight – 14th straight at home – and boosted the (Lady) Monarchs (21-3, 11-1) into a first-place tie with the Owls (16-7, 11-1) in C-USA.

Other takeaways from a super-fun night of hoops:

– The attendance number isn’t going to blow anyone away, but trust us, given the back-and-forth nature of the game, its obvious intensity and, of course, the successful outcome, the arena rocked in a way we haven’t heard for a women’s game in years.

– Like fastbreak basketball? Then you ought to love these (Lady) Monarchs, whose transition game, or as we like to call it, their “git it and go” offense, continually burned Rice before the vaunted Owls defense could dig in. How quickly can ODU strike? At the 5:54 mark of the second quarter, Edwards rebounded a missed free throw. At 5:49, she was laying it in at the other end.

– Another time, Edwards snatched another rebound and fired a roughly 50-foot pass that was so sweet Tom Brady (2017 version) would have been proud. Amari Young corralled it in stride and knocked down the layup. Half of ODU’s 28 first-half points came via the running game, including a tone-setting eight of the first 12.

– Speaking of Young, about a year ago  McCray said the springy 5-11 then-freshman forward had a chance to become one of the best players in program history. Now we loved Young’s rebounding chops, gazelle-like gait and defensive tenacity. But an all-time great in THIS program? So we check in a year later, and we notice the handle has tightened up, a nice mid-range J is emerging, and all the other stuff is still in effect. On Thursday, she even won the overtime tip from Rice’s 6-9 Nancy Mulkey. We’ll admit, we thought McCray was laying it on a bit thick when she made that comment a year ago. But we see it now – time will tell where Young will ultimately rank in the ODU pantheon, but clearly this kid is going to be a monster.

–  Marie Reichert, the 6-2 freshman center from Kassel, Germany who came in 2-8 from 3 on the season, going 2-4 from distance against Rice on a night the rest of her teammates were a combined 2-14 from long range? Who knew?

– Shooters shoot, so when Victoria Morris accepted a pass from Ashley Scott behind the 3-point stripe with ODU up one midway through the fourth quarter, she shook off the fact that she was 0-11 from the field at that point and confidently let fly.

Nothing but net.

– Morris’ dagger gave the (Lady) Monarchs a 55-51 lead with 4:56 to play. But ODU would not score again in regulation. Meanwhile, Rice pulled even on a pair of layups by Erica Ogwumike (26 points, 18 rebounds), and when Wayne’s layup attempt over the towering Mulkey glanced off the rim in the final seconds, the Chartway Arena faithful were treated to five minutes of extra basketball.

– Fortunately for the nail-biting home fans, ODU rewarded its fans by dominating the extra period. Wayne was fearlessly in attack mode. Young soared to grab a huge offensive rebound in the final minute, and the otherwise ice-cold Morris struck again, burying a three that gave ODU a seven-point lead. The game ended with a chant of O-D-U! O-D-U reverberating throughout the arena as the clock wound down.

“In order for us to be an elite team, we’ve got to win big games,” McCray said. “To beat a championship team on our home floor, our kids needed to feel that. Our fans needed to see that. I’m just so happy for them.”