GREENSBORO, N.C. --- In a clash of Old Dominion Athletic Conference leaders, Eastern Mennonite led from start to finish in a solid road win at Guilford College, 66-51. The Royals improve to 10-2 overall with their seventh straight win, while they snap GC's seven-game winning streak and drop the Quakers to 10-2.
It was EMU's eighth straight regular season win over the powerful Guilford basketball women.
The Royals scored the first eight points in this year's first meeting, at the Ragan-Brown Field House in Greensboro, N.C., Saturday afternoon. They never looked back. A 10-2 run ballooned the lead to 21-8 with 1:43 left in the first period.
The lead still stood at 13 midway through the second until Guilford struck a run and ended the half on a 13-4 streak to get within 32-28 at intermission.
The Quakers hung within four or five points much of the third period until EMU held them scoreless over the final 3:45. The Royals scored the final seven points, nearly equaling their opponent's total of eight from the frame, to take 48-36 cushion into the final 10 minutes.
GC got within six points early in the fourth before a quick 6-0 jab essentially knocked out the Quakers. EMU rebuilt the lead to 56-44 with 5:01 to play, and added another 6-0 run to push it up to 62-46. The rest was simply waiting for time to expire as the Royals handed Guilford their first ODAC loss.
Many of the team statistics were close in the contest instead of one key number – shooting percentage. Eastern Mennonite shot a decent 42.2% from the floor, while stifling Guilford to a season-low 29.7%. The 51 points was also a season worst for the Quakers.
Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) led the way with 20 points on 9-13 shooting. Jonae Guest (Dumfries, Va./Potomac) was a dominating interior presence. She racked up a career high 15 points with seven rebounds, doing nearly all of her damage in the first three periods.
Myneshia Walker (Freeman, Va./Brunswick) added 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Point guard Alicia Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) added nine rebounds and a game high five assists. Shaneyea Conwell (Newport News, Va./Warwick) was good for eight rebounds.
Anais Weatherly scored 20 points for Guilford, although she shot just 8-20 from the floor. Nobody else had more than seven points.
After big wins of rival Bridgewater and Guilford this past week, the Royals play a third straight high-intensity game, travelling to Randolph-Macon on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets were picked third in this year's ODAC Preseason Poll.