On paper, it looked like the deck was stacked against the EMU basketball women. Playing last year's national runner-up and coming off a 19-point loss, while learning to play without three graduated seniors and growing handful of unavailable players. But the Royals buckled down and earned a hard-fought overtime win, toppling Whitman 76-73 to wrap up their trip to a tip-off tourney in Wilmington, Ohio.
Eastern Mennonite scored the first seven points in the game before the Missionaries settled down. The women used another 7-0 run to build the lead to 36-24 late in the half. EMU was up 38-27 at the break.
The lead continued to grow in the second, with Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) hitting a jumper for the biggest lead of the night at 51-36 with 13:23 remaining. The lead hung around 10 points until Whitman started a late charge.
Preseason All-America First Team guard Heather Johns converted a three point play to slice the edge to six at 62-56 with 3:16 to go. Alicia Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) kept the lead at 65-59 with a single free throw with 1:06, but the Missionaries scored the final six of regulation, including a game-tying three pointer with 21 ticks to go, to send the contest to OT at 65-65.
Marla zumFelde (Goshen, Ind./Bethany Christian) opened the extra session scoring with a three ball, putting EMU in front. Whitman eventually got the score tied at 73-73 with 1:02 left, but zumFelde made two of three free throws with 42 second to go to put the Royals back in front.
The Missionaries ended up missing a pair of free throws and Ygarza added another toss with 13 seconds to go, making it 76-73. WC missed a layup at the buzzer as the Royals escaped with the much-needed win.
A day after shooting 31.0% from the floor, Eastern Mennonite torched the nets at a 51.8% clip. The women were also 7-15 from three point range. They also had 17 steals and forced 26 turnovers to help make up for 32 of their own miscues.
Despite fouling out late in regulation, Rheinheimer led the Royals with 22 points, six rebounds and four steals. The junior forward was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals at the tip-off.
Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) recovered from her foul-plagued game on Saturday to notch a double double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. ZumFelde drained three treys and added 13 off the bench. Alisa Brown (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) added five assists and five steals, while Ygarza charted four steals.
Johns led Whitman with 22 points and three assists, but also had eight turnovers.
The Royals are 1-1 as they prepare for their home opener on Wednesday. EMU hosts York (Pa.) College at 6:00pm. Both teams are replacing key senior classes after NCAA National Tournament trips last spring. Eastern Mennonite also takes an 18-game home winning streak into the game.