Women Win Season Opener

action photo of RC basketball player Ayanna Scarborough
RC raced out to a 33-19 lead in their season debut

The Basics
Score: Roanoke 86, D'Youville 72
Records: Maroons 1-0 | Spartans 2-1
Location: Salem, Va.

The Lead: The RC women raced out to a big first quarter lead, 33-14, as they started the 2019-20 season with a home win in the Jean Beamer Tip Off Classic.

How it Happened:

  • The Maroons would miss their first three shots of the evening, allowing D'Youville to get off to a 6-0 start. However, Roanoke would get back-to-back three pointers by Molly Hassell and Renee Alquiza to quickly close the gap.
  • The final 6:30 of the opening frame would be all Roanoke as they would score 27 points to close the quarter with a 19 point advantage.
  • D'Anna Cvetnich would push the lead over 20 to start the second quarter but the Spartans would start to slowly cut into the advantage. D'Youville would shoot 50% for the period including 4-7 from the three point line to trim the RC lead to 13 at the break.
  • After seeing the lead cut to 10, Hassell would score a late bucket to allow the Maroons to take a 12 point cushion into the final 10 minutes of play.
  • Cvetnich would hit a three to start the scoring before Whitney Hopson and Ayanna Scarborough each had four point runs to help Roanoke pull away and push the lead back over 20.
  • The two teams would combine to attempt 24 free throws in a fourth quarter that never had any sort of flow due to all the whistles and stoppages of play. In the end, Roanoke would go 70% from the stripe to put the game away.
  • Scarborough and Kristina Harrel each scored 13 to lead the balanced attack that would see 13 different Maroons score on the night. Rose Sande and Cvetnich led with seven rebounds apiece while Harrel, Hopson, and Sayre Brandstatter each handed out three assists.

Up next: The women look to win the tournament crown tomorrow when they host North Carolina Wesleyan in the championship game of the Jean Beamer Classic at 3:00pm.