HARRISONBURG, VA --- With 12:31 left in regulation, Guilford College's women held their biggest lead of the night at 11 points and the Royals were struggling to find a rhythm. Then Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) hit a three pointer, and another, and another, and one more, swinging momentum in EMU's favor. It eventually took two overtimes, but the Eastern Mennonite women took a big 72-67 win in a clash of the two ODAC preseason favorites in Harrisonburg.
After the Royals surged into the lead, the visiting Quakers earned both OT sessions with game-tying shots. But EMU opened the second overtime with a three pointer, and held their biggest lead of the night in the final minute, keeping GC at arm's length with a two-possession margin.
Guilford quickly established their style of play from the opening tip, building a 9-0 lead before the women got their first bucket at the 12:58 mark. EMU then sliced the lead to two at 10-8 and the teams traded leads before rolling into a halftime tie at 22-22.
Another dry spell opened the second, as the Quakers scored the first 10 points of the frame to rebuild their big lead. Gabby Oglesby hit a layup with 12:31 left, making it 38-27. That's when Rheinheimer started her barrage. Over a span of 6:49, the forward drained four long bombs to lead a 19-4 run, putting the Royals ahead 46-44 with 5:21 left in regulation.
EMU took a 52-50 lead with 2:31 showing on the clock, but they wouldn't score again until overtime. Guilford had their own struggles scoring during that time, but got the game-tying bucket from Oglesby with 52 seconds to go.
The women scored the first four points in the first extra session, and still led 60-57 after Rheinheimer made two free throws with 11.5 seconds left. GC's Kayla Adams then buried a three pointer from the left wing at the buzzer to send the game to double OT.
In that final frame, EMU got three pointers from Alisa Brown (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) and Marla zumFelde (Goshen, Ind./Bethany Christian) to open a 66-62 lead with 1:35 to go. The Quakers answered with a triple, but Rheinheimer hit a layup to keep the lead at three with 44 seconds left. Eastern Mennonite then forced back-to-back turnovers and hit just enough free throws to get the breathing room they needed for the win.
The battle of the ODAC heavyweights featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties. After a frigid start from the floor, EMU finished with a 37% shooting mark, compared to 38% for GC. The biggest difference came from long range, when the Royals were 8-25, compared to just 2-11 for Guilford.
Rheinheimer finished 4-for-7 from three point range, and scored a career high 21 points. She also had seven rebounds. Brown had with 18 counters and six rebounds, including four off the offensive glass.
Point guard Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, Va./Brentsville District) came in with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) just missed a double double with 11 points and nine boards.
Adams led Guilford with 19 points. Oglesby added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The win pushes Eastern Mennonite to 13-4 overall and keeps the women tied with Lynchburg atop the ODAC at 7-1. Guilford slips to 13-4 and 5-3. Next up is another huge game, this time with surprising Randolph-Macon Tuesday night at home. The Yellow Jackets are 6-2 in the ODAC, and averaging a league-best 91.9 points a game.