WINCHESTER, Va. - The women's basketball team looked almost unstoppable Saturday afternoon as the Hornets trounced USA South rival Averett University 71-44 before 421 fans at Shingleton Gymnasium.

SU brought its conference record back to .500 at 6-6 and is now 9-12 overall. Averett falls to 3-18 overall, 2-11 USA South with the loss.

The Lady Cougars hung in the game early on and took a 6-5 lead with 16:13 remaining in the opening half when Meaghan Reiley found CeCe Carter open for a short jumper from the wing, but the wheels soon fell off the Averett bandwagon.

Shenandoah rattled off a 16-6 run in the next 7:50, capped off by a jumper from sophomore Joia Davis (Trenton, N.J./Stuart Co.) following one of junior Jenny Gray's (Sumerduck, Va./Liberty) game high five steals, to secure a 15-point lead (27-12) from which it would not look back.

Senior Katie Woods (Winchester, Va./Sherando) came off the bench to lead all scorers with 13 points and fell a single rebound short of a double-double for the afternoon. Gray and senior Adina Trammel (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun Co.) also added 11 points apiece in the rout.

The Hornets' defense held AU to 10-percent shooting from the 3-point arc and did not allow a double digit scorer in the contest.

A complete boxscore may be located at: http://www.su.edu/athletics/wb/200304/su-auw.htm

There will be no rest for the winners as Shenandoah turns right around for a rematch with USA South opponent Peace College tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM. Peace took the earlier meeting, a convincing 63-47 victory, in Raleigh, N.C. on January 11th.