BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Bridgewater College gave rival Eastern Mennonite all it could handle Wednesday evening before the first-place Royals escaped Nininger Hall with an 83-73 victory in Old Dominion Athletic Conference women's basketball action.

Bridgewater came out of the locker room on fire, setting the stage for a closely contested first half of action.

Molly Shelley knocked down a 3-pointer and added a 15-footer for a quick 5-2 Eagles lead. Bianca Ygarza scored from down low for the Royals before Jessica Lam connected from 3-point range to put the Eagles on top 8-6.

Another 3-pointer, this one by Holly Morgan put the Eagles on top by five , but Steph Rheinheimer answered with a 3-pointer to pull EMU to within a bucket, 11-9.

Shelley hit two foul shots before layups by Shakeerah Sykes and Nora Osei tied the score at 13-13 with 13:44 left in the half.

After Cassidy Burkholder scored for the Eagles, Marla zumFelde swished a long 3-pointer to give EMU the lead and a bucket by Jess Rheinheimer pushed the Royals margin to three, 18-15.

A layup by Becky Barrett pushed EMU's lead to five, but the Eagles rallied to tie the score at 20-20 on a layup by Heather Cantrell and a 3-pointer by Shelley.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by zumFelde and Steph Rheinheimer pushed the Royals lead to six, but Morgan knocked down consecutive threes to tie the score at 26 apiece with 7:45 on the clock.

Leading 34-32, the Royals used a 5-0 spurt to take their biggest lead of the half. Keyla Baltimore scored on a driving layup and Bianca Ygarza converted a three-pointer play to put EMU on top 39-32 with 1:56 left in the half.

Two foul shots by Lam offset a short jumper by Ygarza before Morgan drained a long 3-pointer with just six seconds left in the half to trim EMU's lead to four, 41-37, at the break.

The Royals stretched the lead to seven, 51-44, early in the second half, but the Eagles hung tough and an 11-5 surge pulled Bridgewater to within one, 56-55, with 11:44 left to play.

After two free throws by Baltimore, Morgan struck again from beyond the arc to pull the Eagles even at 58-58 with 10:41 remaining.

The lead didn't last long as Steph Rheinheimer hit from downtown to put the Royals back on top by three.

Oshene Kelly scored after an offensive rebound to make it a one-point game but a layup by Jess Rheinheimer kept the Royals up by three.

After two foul shots by Shelley, the Eagles took their only lead of the second half when Kelly grabbed another offensive board and connected on a short fade-away jumper, giving the Eagles a 64-63 advantage with 6:30 left in the game.

The Royals then responded with a 9-0 run to lead 72-64 with 4:05 left in the game

Burkholder snapped Bridgewater's scoring drought with a short jumper and, after Sykes hit 1-of-2 foul shots for EMU, Shelley made two free throws to pull Bridgewater back to within five, 73-68, with exactly two minutes left on the clock.

Jess Rheinheimer made two foul shots for the Royals before Morgan hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to pull bridgewater to within four points, 75-71, with 1:08 left.

EMU iced the game from the foul line when they made eight straight free throws to finish off the 83-73 conference win.

Morgan paced the Eagles with 20 points. The Bridgewater senior made a career-high six 3-pointers in 12 attempts. Cassidy Burkholder scored 16 points and Shelly added 14. Lam hit double figures for the first time in her career with 10 points off the bench.

Ygarza paced the Royals attack with a game-high 23 points. Jess Rheinheimer scored 13 points, followed by Steph Rheinheimer with 11 and Sykes with 10.

EMU (12-4, 6-1 in the ODAC) controlled the boards by a 43-30 margin with Ygarza grabbing eight rebounds. Cantrell and Kelly snared six rebounds each to lead the Eagles.

The Royals shot 47.5 percent from the floor, making the 29-of-61 shots. Bridgewater made 27-63 shots for 42.9 percent. The Eagles shot an even 50 percent from beyond the arc as they hit a season-high 11 3-pointers.

Bridgewater (5-10, 3-4 in the ODAC) returns to the court Saturday afternoon with a road trip to Washington and Lee University. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.