Posted: Feb 05, 2011
HARRISONBURG, Va. --- Eastern Mennonite rallied in the second half to down Roanoke, 68-61 at Yoder Arena Saturday afternoon. The Royals improved to 12-9 overall, 10-6 in the ODAC. The Maroons dropped to 12-6, 11-3 in conference play.
The Royals outscored Roanoke, 20-7 in points off turnovers and 37-21 off the bench in the win. The Maroons edged EMU in points in the paint, 26-24, and won the rebounding battle, 41-36. For the Royals, it was their third come-from-behind win over the last four games.
After shooting 50% from the floor in the first half to take a 37-28 halftime advantage, the Maroons went cold, shooting 8-for-28 in the second stanza and turned the ball over 15 times as the Royals rallied from behind to earn the conference victory.
Roanoke led by 11 after three-point play from Nicci Moats with 14:26 remaining in the game. But EMU started to apply pressure and forced turnovers to get them back in the game.
The Maroons regrouped and the teams traded leads for the next nine minutes before the Royals' defense again took over. Trailing 61-60 with 2:25 left, EMU put the clamps on Roanoke and didn't allow another point.
Jordan Gholson led Roanoke with 17 points and four blocked shots along with nine rebounds. She moved into 11th on the career scoring list at Roanoke, passing Katrina Williams '03 with 1,122 points. The blocked shots all-time leader at Roanoke now has 200 blocks for her career, fifth in ODAC history. Her 604 career rebounds are ninth at Roanoke, trailing Amy Athey '97 by eight for eighth on that list.
Moats finished with nine points and three blocks while leading the Maroons with 15 boards. She tied Karen Jenkins '91 for third on the career blocked shots list at Roanoke with 103. Hannah Davidson scored nine points off 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range and led RC with four assists.
Danielle Rittenhouse scored 14 in the second half and led all scorers with 21. She hit 6-of-10 shots, including 3-of-6 from long range and 6-of-6 in free throws. Kala Yoders added 12 points and Sara Lamneck chipped in 11 and four assists.
The women return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 8 as they host Emory & Henry in ODAC play. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Bast Center.
