HARRISONBURG, Va. – League-leading Eastern Mennonite used a fast start to the second half Tuesday evening of its ODAC women's basketball game to rally for a 63-53 victory over visiting Shenandoah.

Shenandoah (9-11, 5-6 ODAC) took a 32-27 lead into the halftime lockerroom but could only watch as EMU (14-5, 10-1) went on a 15-3 run coming out of the break to take a lead it would not relinquish.

Junior Crystal Petrus had the lone SU bucket during the run, hitting a 3-pointer at the 18:15 mark.

After falling behind by eight points, Imani Heggins and Holly Chittenden hit consecutive layups for the Hornets to cut the deficit to four with 5:52 remaining.

Unfortunately for coach C.K. Calhoun's club, the Royals scored the next five points of the game and closed the game out on a 10-5 run to provide the final margin of victory.

Shenandoah had taken the five-point halftime lead on the strength of 48 percent shooting (14 of 29) and a 20-18 advantage on the glass.

EMU, which was 11 of 28 in the first half (39 percent) in the opening stanza, shot a strong 52 percent (13 of 25) in the second and grabbed 18 of the 32 rebounds to fuel the rally.

Chittenden paced SU with a game-high 14 points while Nicole Gilbertson had 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds and Petrus 10 points.

Bianca Ygarza had 12 points for the hosts.

The Hornets return to action on Saturday for a 2:00 home contest against Hollins. It is Senior Day for SU and Gilbertson will be honored prior to tip-off.

###