HARRISONBURG, VA --- The Royals used an 11-0 run midway through the first half to blow open a tie game and run away with a 79-56 non-conference win over St. Mary's in Harrisonburg Wednesday night.

After Eastern Mennonite scored the first eight points of the contest, the Seahawks came back and knotted up the score at 12-12.  Over the next four minutes, the women scored 11 in a row to balloon the lead to 23-12.

SMC got within six points before the Royals pushed the lead to as many as 15.  Aided by 18 forced turnovers, Eastern Mennonite led 44-33 at halftime.

Faced with the women's tough defense, the Seahawks had no energy left in the second half and couldn't mount a comeback attempt.

EMU forced 32 turnovers and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds in the win, which helped lead to 20 more shot attempts than St. Mary's.  The Royals also had a 42-37 edge in rebounding.

Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) scored 11 points in the first half and finished with a game high 15.  She added team highs of seven rebounds and four assists.  Kala Yoders (Myerstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) added to the inside presence with 11 points and six rebounds.

Raiven Patterson (Pulaski, VA/Pulaski County) had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.  Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, VA/Forest Park) scored nine points.  Sykes, Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, VA/Brentsville District) and Steph Rheinheimer (Manheim, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) each had three of EMU's 16 steals.

The women improve to 6-4 with the victory.  They return to ODAC play this weekend, traveling to Randolph College for a 2:00pm contest.