Good teams find ways to win. And on a night when two of EMU’s top three scorers had off nights, the Royals found a way to win, methodically pulling away from Shenandoah in a 76-58 final.
The basketball women improve to 15-6 on the season, including 8-5 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Eastern Mennonite maintains a share of fourth place in the ODAC, tied with Washington and Lee. The Generals knocked Bridgewater out of what had been a three-way tie with a 58-42 win over the Eagles.
EMU wraps up the regular season with a road game at W&L on Feb. 20.
Against Shenandoah (6-16 / 3-10 ODAC), the teams traded leads throughout the first period. The Royals put in the final five of the frame to lead 19-18. The lead grew to as many as 10 points in the second, but EMU’s 36-28 halftime lead was far from comfortable.
The feisty Hornets hit back-to-back buckets to open the third period and stayed within four points for a few minutes. Up just 42-38 with 4:53 left, Jonae Guest (Dumfries, Va./Potomac) scored twice inside to trigger a run. Myneshia Walker (Freeman, Va./Brunswick) and Lindsey Krisak (Alexandria, Va./Edison) each hit a triple, and suddenly the cushion had been padded to 52-41.
Midway through the fourth, Krisak hit back-to-back threes to put the lead at 69-48 and send the starters to the bench. The Hornets made their final three buckets from outside to trim the margin down to the 76-58 final.
The Royals got a great group effort to dominate the boards, 44-24, including 17-4 off the offensive glass. That gave EMU a 23-0 bonus in second chance points to go with a 40-18 advantage in points in the paint.
Walker scored 11 points in the first half and led all players with 14. Guest was impossible to handle as she racked up 12 points and nine rebounds in just 16 minutes. Fellow center Shaneyea Conwell (Newport News, Va./Warwick) added eight points and six boards. Freshman Jourdyn Friend (Richmond, Va./Meadowbrook) added seven and seven.
Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and Sa’Mone Moore (Covington, Va./Covington), who combined to average 31.2 points entering the night, were limited to a total of 12. But they each made up for their cold shooting in other areas. Rheinheimer grabbed eight rebounds and finished with six assists, one off her career high. Moore added a pair of assists and had two steals.
Kanesha Foster led Shenandoah in scoring with 14 points. Erin French added 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Eastern Mennonite heads to Hollins this Saturday with a 2:00pm start in Roanoke.
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