The energy was there.

The crowd was there.

And at times, the shots were there.

But a first-ever win over CAA rival ODU never materialized for UNCW’s women’s basketball team. The Seahawks made it all ballgame for the fourth straight time against the national powers, but fell 68-59 Feb. 15 at Trask Coliseum.

Though the Seahawks cut the deficit to 49-46 with 4:44 remaining, the loss capped a rough week for the squad, which also dropped a 58-48 decision to Towson on Feb. 12 – the Tigers’ first CAA win.

UNCW fell to 12-10 overall and 7-6 in the conference, leaving the squad in fourth place. The Seahawks head north for road games against William & Mary (Feb. 20) and Delaware (Feb. 22).

“I think there are positive things we can take out of it,” UNCW coach Ann Hancock said after the ODU game. “Are we going to lie down and die after Towson or are we going to come back and fight, and scratch? And I thought they did that, they fought hard. We were in the game at the game at the end. I think they responded well and they’ll have to answer that challenge again this weekend.”

Against ODU, the Seahawks stayed close most of the way, but the Monarchs answered every UNCW run with some clutch baskets.

“We thought if we could get a stop here and go down and score, we could get some momentum going, but every time we got some momentum going they’d go down and score, or they would get an offensive rebound and that hurt us,” senior guard Cherie Lea (19 points, 10 rebounds) said. “When they would get an offensive rebound and a put back. It hurt us when we’d get some shots and the crowd would get into it and they’d score.”

Both sides seemed pleased with the small, but loud, crowd of 729 people.

“This has always been a difficult place to play. It’s got great atmosphere and you’ve to prepare to play in that,” ODU coach Wendy Larry said. “In our league, there are very few occasions where there are crowds that are vocal. Other than probably here and Old Dominion it’s kind of a rare occasion.”

But the Seahawks wanted to ride that atmosphere to a victory.

“I’ve been here when there’s maybe been nine people my first year and there was nine people in the stands I think my parents were two of them. But it’s great to have them,” senior Tracy Morgan said. “It makes it so much easier because you hear people cheering for you and it makes your heart race even more. You get into it quicker and when things start going your way, the fans start getting into it.”

Still the Seahawks hope for one more shot at the Monarchs in the CAA Tournament.

“It’s always tough to beat a team three times in one season,” Morgan said. “We’ll come out just like we did today, if not harder and learn from our mistakes we had to day and maybe things will go our way.”