EMU Women Click On All Cylinders In 101-33 Romp Over Randolph

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When Eastern Mennonite's women played at Randolph on Jan. 28, they struggled to hit their shots and snuck away with a 60-54 win. Tuesday night in Harrisonburg everything worked for the Royals on both ends of the floor as they opened each half with a huge run and cruised to a 101-33 win.

EMU forced missed shots and turnovers from the opening whistle as they held the WildCats scoreless for 7:20. In the meantime, the offense was patiently finding open shots and converting three-point plays as the Royals zipped to a 20-0 lead.

They led by as many as 29 in the first half and strolled into the break up 46-19.

Assuring that Randolph didn't start a comeback in the second, the women scored the first 23 points and used a 30-1 run to blow the lead to 76-20 after a Jennifer Blankenship (Bassett, Va./Bassett) triple with 11:46 to play.

With a patient offense, Eastern Mennonite continued to bury its open looks en route to the big win.

Six players scored in double figures as the women shot a blazing 58.6%, connecting on 41-of-70 shots. They missed breaking the mark for team field goal percentage in a game by fractions, as the record is 58.9%. EMU also had 23 assists.

"We had 11 kids score, so I feel we really shared the ball well tonight," said Coach Kevin Griffin. "It was amazing that we only had three turnovers and they were all in the first half. We executed well. We were patient. And quite honestly we just shot the ball extrememly well."

Kala Yoders (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) led all scorers with 18 points along with eight rebounds. Danielle Rittenhouse (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) had 12 points and a career best eight assists.

Senior Addie Bashorun (Manassas, Va./Brentsville District) didn't miss a shot all game and finished with a season best 10 points. Kiki Via (Bassett, Va./Bassett) had nine points and seven rebounds.

EMU's defense was suffocating.

"Defensively we played really hard and just frustrated them all night," Griffin said.

Randolph was just 12-51 from the floor for 24%. The WildCats also had 27 turnovers to just three for EMU.

Brandie Witt needed 18 shot attempts to led RC with 14 points.

The convincing win pushes the Royals to 13-10 overall and 11-7 and in fifth place in the ODAC. EMU hosts Emory & Henry Friday night and Guilford Saturday at 3:00pm to wrap up the regular season.