LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph women's basketball team hosted its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference game of the season on Wednesday as it welcomed Eastern Mennonite to Giles Gymnasium. Despite a slow start, the WildCats had a strong second half effort as they went on to defeat the Royals 59-43.
Randolph improves its record to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the ODAC. EMU evens its record at 2-2 and is 0-1 in the conference.
The WildCats led 7-5 after the first quarter. Cierra Cook's (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) three point basket to begin the second quarter put Randolph ahead 10-5. The Royals cut into the Randolph lead and got to within one point at 10-9. Five straight free throws by the 'Cats restored the Randolph lead to five points, 14-9, with 6:31 remaining in the quarter. Eastern Mennonite once again cut in to the WildCat advantage to make it a one-possession game, 16-14, with under five minutes to play in the period. An 8-4 run by Randolph to end the quarter gave the home team a 24-18 lead at halftime.
Eastern Mennonite scored the first basket 13 seconds into the third quarter to make it 24-20 Randolph. An 8-2 WIildCat run put Randolph out ahead 32-22 with 6:02 showing on the game clock. The 'Cats would still lead by double digits, 40-27, going into the final quarter of play.
The Royals got as close as eight points, 42-34, with just under eight minutes left in regulation. A 12-2 run by the WildCats was enough to put EMU away as the lead grew to 19 points, 55-36, with under three minutes left and Randolph stayed comfortably ahead.
Randolph shot 37% (20-of-54) from the floor. The WildCats were also 4-of-15 from behind the three-point arc while the Royals were just 1-of-9 (11.1%).
The rebounding edge was slightly in Randolph's favor, 39-37. The WildCats blocked five shots and came away with 16 steals. Points off turnovers were 25-16 in Randolph's favor while the WildCat bench outscored Eastern Mennonite's 29-7.
"I really loved our energy and effort from the jump," said head coach Steve Lanpher. "We always try to set the tone with our zone pressure and we did that tonight. We struggled shooting the ball in the first quarter but then started getting into a better flow."
Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) led Randolph with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and added eight rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Alexis Kiser (Floyd, Va./Floyd County) finished with 10 points. Cook added nine points, Simone Brown (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) scored eight points, pulled down eight rebounds, and blocked three shots.
"I'm really proud of our post players tonight from Nadia, Simone & Nafi," noted Lanpher. "They anchored down the lane and did a nice job rebounding. Yanessa & Lexi Kiser handles the point guard responsibilities well. Kylie was very efficient on the offensive end on 60% shooting to lead us with 14 points. Cierra & Natalie were great at the wing position. Nice way to open conference play. We have a lot to improve on but I like our passion & willingness to learn."
Next up for Randolph is a non-conference contest with Trinity (DC) on Saturday afternoon. Game time from Giles Gymnasium is at 2:00 p.m.