HARRISONBURG, VA --- After shooting 50% or better in four straight wins, the Eastern Mennonite women used strong defense to down rival Bridgewater College Thursday in Harrisonburg, 57-48. The Royals held BC to just five field goals in the second half and overcame a four-point halftime deficit with a 28-15 final period.
The win is the fifth in a row for EMU, and eighth over the past nine games. It is also the third straight victory for the Royals in the rivalry.
Eastern Mennonite forced the Eagles to miss their first 10 shots of the game, along with a pair of turnovers, as the home team jumped to a 9-0 lead. But Bridgewater quickly recovered and used their own defensive stand to tie the score at 13-13 with 6:24 left in the half.
EMU went back up by five, before the Eagles used an 18-7 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 33-27. Point guard Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, VA/Brentsville District) sliced to the hoop as time expired, however, and put in a lay-up to trim the deficit to four at the break, 33-29.
The play signaled a change of momentum in the second, as Baltimore led the surge. BC maintained an edge until 39-35 with 15:54 to go. At that point, EMU's athleticism took over and the Eagles wouldn't make another field goal until 1:20 was left - a stretch of 14:34.
Over that span, the Royals out-scored BC 19-4 to surge to a 54-43 lead after a Baltimore lay-up with 1:49 remaining. The cushion grew to 12 points before the Eagles got a three pointer at the buzzer to produce the final 57-48 margin.
While neither team shot particularly well (34% to 33% in favor of EMU), the women made the difference with 18 offensive rebounds, a +6 turnover margin (21-15), and free throws. The Royals were 14-22 from the stripe while Bridgewater was 9-15.
Baltimore had 10 points in the second half and led the women with 12. She also had a team high three steals.
With Baltimore slicing to the hoop and EMU's athletic bigs, much of the Royals' scoring came from inside. Kala Yoders (Myerstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) and Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, VA/Forest Park) each just missed a double double. Yoders had 10 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Sykes had nine points and 11 rebounds, including seven off the offensive glass. Freshman Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) added 10 points.
Jessica Mullen (Purcellville, VA/Loudoun Valley) led the Eagles with 15 points, with tough defense from Baltimore and Alisa Brown (Dumfries, VA/Forest park) keeping her three below her season average. Jessi Strom (Vinton, VA/Glenvar) canned a trio of three pointers and had 11 points. Katelynn Hottinger (Linville, VA/Broadway) had nine rebounds, eight points and four blocked shots.
The Royals improve to 12-5 overall and 8-1 in the ODAC. The women are tied with Guilford atop the league, with a two-game lead over third place. Bridgewater settles at 8-8 and 5-4 in the ODAC.
Next up for EMU is a road date with Roanoke on Saturday. Game time is 2:00pm.