HARRISONBURG, VA --- Thankfully it's not how you start, but how you finish. The Eastern Mennonite basketball women outscored Shenandoah 36-21 in the second half Tuesday night, downing the Hornets 63-53.
EMU stretches their winning streak to seven in a row and keeps tied with Guilford for first place in the ODAC at 10-1.
Shenandoah proved they came to play by getting a steal after the Royals controlled the jump, then scoring first on a jumper. The visiting Hornets led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a 32-27 lead at the break, holding EMU to 39% shooting.
The Royals came out a different team in the second. Aggressively attacking the basketball, they scored the first six points and surged to a 42-35 lead when Kala Yoders (Myerstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) converted a three-point play at the 15:48 mark. The play capped a 15-3 start to the second stanza.
The Hornets got within four points at 53-49, but a quick 5-0 run pushed the lead up to 58-49 with 4:17 remaining. After an SU bucket, Eastern Mennonite held their visitors to just two points over the final 3:32 to grab the 10-point win.
The teams finished even in the shooting department, both sinking 45% of their shots. But the Royals were +8 in turnovers (21-13) and, despite struggling to make free throws, earned an advantage at the stripe by sheer volume. EMU was 13-28 from the line compared to just 3-8 for Shenandoah.
Junior Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) broke out with her third double double of the season. The forward finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, a career high six assists and two steals. Raiven Patterson (Pulaski, VA/Pulaski County) also hit double figures with 10 points and three steals.
Alisa Brown (Dumfries, VA/Forest Park) had seven points and a career best six assists. Freshmen Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) added seven points and seven boards off the bench.
Nicole Gilbertson (Etters, PA/Trinity) led Shenandoah off the bench, notching 12 points and 14 rebounds. Holly Chittenden (Boyds, MD/Poolsville) had 14 counters.
The Royals improve to 14-5 overall and 10-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. With just five games left in the regular season, EMU is tied with Guilford atop the league. The women are at Emory & Henry this weekend, playing a 4:00pm game on Saturday.