VIRGINIA BEACH, VA --- The EMU basketball women rebounded from their first ODAC loss in a big way, dominating Virginia Wesleyan on the road Wednesday night, 55-36.  VWC had entered the game as the lone undefeated team in conference play, but the Royals held them to 31% shooting for the convincing road win.

Eastern Mennonite had struggled in their 69-65 road loss at Roanoke on Saturday, and then traded points with the Marlins early on.  With 14:31 left in the first half, the home team led 12-10.  That would be the final time VWC would score until the second half, as they women turned on the defense.

The Royals forced their hosts into 0-15 shooting along with nine turnovers over the final 14 minutes of the half, as the women scored 18 unanswered points to roll into halftime with a 28-12 lead.

EMU added another bucket to open the second, completing a 20-0 run before Virginia Wesleyan finally hit a three pointer at the 17:07 mark.  That ended a scoreless spell of 17:24 from which the Marlins couldn't recover.

A 14-5 run actually got VWC back within single digits, but the women pushed back out to a 50-30 lead with 5:52 left to ice the win.

The Royals out-shot their hosts 43% to 31%, and controlled the boards 39-24 with 12 offensive rebounds.

Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) led all players with 12 points and eight rebounds.  Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) had eight points and six rebounds off the bench.  Alisa Brown (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) also scored eight.  Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, Va./Brentsville District) had five assists and five rebounds.

Despite their second-lowest scoring output of the season, Eastern Mennonite earned the win by not allowing a single Marlin to score in double figures.  Kelly Jones hit three triples off the bench to score nine.

The Royals are now 10-4 overall and 4-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.  Next up is a home game with Hollins this Saturday, with a 2:00pm tip-off.