Eastern Mennonite led from start to finish Saturday afternoon, topping Hollins 67-40 to start perfect on the year and give seventh-year Head Coach Kevin Griffin his 100th career win.
Freshmen Shakeerah Sykes (Portsmouth, VA/Forest Park) started the scoring by hitting two inside shots. Hollins was within 6-4 before EMU took over and methodically inflated its lead. By halftime, the women were up by their biggest lead at the time at 34-13.
Hollins found a stroke from outside, hitting 6-of-11 three pointers in the second, but could get no closer than 20 points. While the Royals shot only 36% from the floor in the second, they played well enough to keep their edge and the 27-point win.
The biggest edge for the women was in rebounding where they had a 48-35 advantage. EMU also had 22 offensive boards. They forced 25 Hollins turnovers while committing just 17 of their own.
Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) had another big game off the bench, leading with 11 points, seven rebounds and a couple of assists. Kala Yoders (Myerstown, PA/ELCO) had 11 points and six rebounds.
Guard Alisa Brown (Dumfries, VA/Forest Park) added seven points and a team high eight caroms, including five on the offensive end. Raiven Patterson (Pulaski, VA/Pulaski) and Marla Young (Fishersville, VA/Wilson Memorial) each had nine points.
Griffin pointed out that his team played great defense as Hollins shot just 30% in the game. The women also had just 11 fouls.
"We defended really well," EMU's coach said, "and did well on help-side defense and we defended without fouling."
Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, VA/Brentsville District) had four assists, but made her biggest impact defensively. She guarded Jasmine Greene (Hampton, VA/Tabb), the ODAC's leading scorer, and held her to 14 points on 6-for-17 shooting. Lacie Forrest (Richmond, VA/Meadowbrook) added 12 counters.
Griffin now has a career mark of 100 wins with 61 losses. In his six seasons, Griffin's teams have never finished below .500.
"Players win games," he said. "You don't win games without good players."
Eastern Mennonite is now 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the ODAC. They have a week off before traveling to Virginia Wesleyan next Saturday, playing at 4:00pm.