A definite pattern is developing for the EMU women – bide their time in the first half and then take over down the stretch.  The Royals outscored Roanoke 30-10 over the final 13:25, toppling the Maroons in Harrisonburg Wednesday night to stay undefeated.

RC, a perennial power in the ODAC, has struggled to start the season after graduating a number of starters and losing injured All-ODAC First Team Center Nicci Moats (Blue Ridge, VA/Lord Botetourt) for the first half of the season.  But the visitors looked good from the opening tip, executing their offense and hitting a trey to start the scoring.

Roanoke squirted to an 8-2 lead and still held a 10-9 edge, before EMU jumped ahead 18-11.  The visitors settled down and went into the break with a 35-33 edge after getting two free throws as the horn sound for halftime.

For a short time, Eastern Mennonite struggled in the second.  RC started with another triple, then added a deuce to go ahead by seven, 40-33.

Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) then scored seven points in a 10-0 run over a span of 1:47 as the Royals jumped back in front 43-40.  The Maroons tied the score at 45-45 with a three pointer with 13:56 to play, but then EMU simply took over.

The women forced turnovers on three straight possessions and quickly scored seven unanswered.  By that point, Roanoke's players were wearing out and many of their shots fell short.  The Royals kept on pushing the tempo and cruised to the 20-point win.

Eastern Mennonite was dominant in the second half, hitting 50% of their shots while holding the Maroons to a weak 33%.  The women also forced 23 turnovers while committing just 11 of their own.

Ygarza racked up 19 points, including 14 in the second half, to go with five rebounds and three steals.  Raiven Patterson (Pulaski, VA/Pulaski) finished with a double double, notching 12 points and 12 rebounds.  Eight of her boards were offensive.

Five other women scored between six and eight points, headed by Sara Lamneck (Swoope, VA/Buffalo Gap) who came in with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.  Shandell Taylor (Richmond, VA/Highland Springs) was good for seven and three assists.

Roanoke finished the game shooting 40%, but struggled to make anything in the second half.  Gwin Paxton (Buxton, NC/Cape Hatteras Sec.) had 12 points and 10 boards.

EMU Coach Kevin Griffin pointed to his team's depth as a key.

"We have eight or nine starters," he said.  "That's the way I look at it.  And we're just trying to figure out combinations as nine players gave us double digit minutes tonight."

He pointed out that the bench outscored RC's bench 52-14 and said that as a team, the Royals are hard to stop.

"The bench played really well," said Griffin.  "As long as we keep playing unselfishly like this and not care about who gets the credit, we're in good shape."

Eastern Mennonite is 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.  The women have beaten Randolph-Macon, Bridgewater and now Roanoke, all traditional powers in the league.  Next up is a home date with Hollins this Saturday.  Griffin needs just one more win to reach 100 for his career.