HARRISONBURG, VA --- As the end of a regular season looms, it's more and more important for teams to simply take care of business. The EMU basketball women took care of business at home Saturday afternoon, leading most of the game in an 82-72 win over Roanoke College.
With the Royals' 17th straight win in Yoder Arena, and 10th straight overall, they improve to 19-4 on the season and 13-1 in the ODAC. And with Lynchburg's loss Saturday afternoon, EMU now has a two-game lead over the second-place teams and can clinch the top seed in the ODAC Tournament with a win at Shenandoah Wednesday night.
After losing 69-65 at Roanoke on Jan. 11, the Royals started quickly, sprinting to an 8-0 lead just 1:21 into the ballgame. The Maroons call a timeout and returned fire by taking an 11-10 advantage.
With the score tied at 16-16, Eastern Mennonite scored seven unanswered to go back in front and Roanoke never fully recovered. The women led by as many as 17 points in the first half after Steph Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) canned a three pointer to make it 45-28. EMU was up 45-32 at the break.
The Maroons opened the second on a 10-4 run to make it a single-digit deficit, but the Royals never let their visitors get closer than six points.
Steph and Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) iced the game, as the sisters combined to make 11-of-12 free throws over the final 52 seconds to produce the final 10-point margin.
Eastern Mennonite took exceptional care of the ball with a season-low five turnovers. Roanoke had 13. The Royals also shot well from the stripe, going 19-22 in free throws for 86%. RC made all of their attempts, but only made six trips.
Steph Rheinheimer led EMU with 16 points, while Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) was right behind with 15 points and six rebounds. Jess Rheinheimer came in with 10 points and four assists.
Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) had 10 points, while Nora Osei (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) charted nine points and seven rebounds. Point guard Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, Va./Brentsville District) was stellar with seven assists and no turnovers.
Paxton Gwin led Roanoke with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Laurel Hankins added 16 points and eight boards.
After EMU's game at Shenandoah on Wednesday, the Royals wrap up the regular season at home next Saturday when they host second-place Lynchburg. The ODAC Tournament starts the following week.