HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Eastern Mennonite University Women's Basketball Team (5-1, 2-0 ODAC) started off with a 23-2 run as it defeated visiting Emory & Henry College (1-4, 0-2 ODAC), 90-69, in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon at Yoder Arena.
The Royals got out to a 21-point lead (23-2) at the 12:23 mark of the first half and never looked back as they led wire-to-wire over the Wasps. While the deficit was insurmountable for Emory & Henry, the two squads scored an even 67 points each after the opening blitz by EMU.
Finding itself down by 24 at the 4:49 mark of the first half, Emory & Henry scored the next nine points of the game to cut the deficit to 15 (37-22). Junior guard Meredith Grant (Blountville, Tenn.) notched five of her six points of the day during the stretch. Eastern Mennonite would take a 47-27 lead into the break.
After the intermission, the Wasps put together another offensive surge, scoring nine of the first 11 points to trim the margin to 49-36 with 16:18 on the clock. E&H cut the EMU lead to 13 on two other occasions but was unable to overcome its early-game troubles.
Eastern Mennonite was led by Keyla Baltimore, who had 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists on the day. Jess Rheinheimer and Shakeerah Sykes both notched 14 points while Bianca Ygarza had 10 points and six assists. Becky Barrett led all players with 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Royals shot 48.4 percent (30-for-62) from the field and hit 27-of-38 (71.1%) of their free throw attempts. EMU held a 46-32 advantage on the boards and notched 44 points in the paint.
Junior guard Kristie Langley (Staley, N.C.) and sophomore forward Karina Farr (Graham, Wash.) led the way for Emory & Henry with 13 points apiece while Farr added five rebounds and three assists. Freshman guard Megan Jacoby (Richmond, Va.) registered nine points, three rebounds and four assists while sophomore guard Tenesha Connor (Greensboro, N.C.) added seven points and three rebounds.
Eleven different players played 10 or more minutes for Emory & Henry, and all 11 put a tick in the scoring column. The Wasps shot 37.1 percent (23-for-62) for the game after starting off one-for-13 (7.7%).
E&H will step out of ODAC competition on Tuesday evening when it travels to Danville, Va. for a 7:00 p.m., contest with the Cougars of Averett University.
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