EMU women’s hoops loses to Washington and Lee

EMU’s basketball women came out flat Tuesday night in Harrisonburg, and visiting Washington and Lee took full advantage.  W&L held the ODAC’s leading offense to a season-low output in handing the Royals a 66-50 loss.

Eastern Mennonite (11-4 / 4-3 ODAC) looked sluggish from the start and gave up the first seven points of the game, yet had it tied at 11-11 after a jumper by Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite).  The Royals could never get in front, however, and trailed 25-24 at halftime.

Despite the slow first half, the women came out aggressive in the third period.  But in a sequence representative of the rest of the frame, Myneshia Walker (Freeman, Va./Brunswick) was blocked on a layup attempt on EMU’s first possession and the Generals (10-6 / 5-2 ODAC) answered with back-to-back deflating buckets.

A layup from Emma Redding capped a quick 14-2 run for Washington and Lee, opening up a 39-26 lead.  Rheinheimer scored five straight points, with a three-play cutting the margin to 44-33, but the Generals returned fire with six unanswered points and led 54-35 at the end of the period.  The visitors won the frame, 29-11.

The Royals were never able to gain any traction over the final 10 minutes, with a pair of 4-0 runs not being enough to erase the deficit.

W&L out-shot the women 42% to 36% and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to build a 14-7 advantage in second chance points.  EMU also committed 21 turnovers compared to 14 for the Generals.

Rheinheimer led the women with 18 points.  Alicia Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) had seven points and seven rebounds.  Freshman Lindsey Krisak (Alexandria, Va./Edison) added 12 points and three steals, while classmate Shaneyea Conwell (Newport News, Va./Warwick) had six rebounds.

The Generals’ Ailyn Kelly topped all players with 20 points.  Shelbi Hendricks was good for 11 points and 10 rebounds while Jackie Clifford scored 16.

Next on the schedule for EMU is a road game at Emory & Henry.  The contest is scheduled for Saturday, although the schools are discussing a potential rescheduled date with an eye on the forecasted snow for this weekend.