ROANOKE, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's basketball team opened up its 2014-15 ODAC slate with a 74-37 victory at Hollins.

Shenandoah (5-1, 1-0 ODAC) scored the first five points of the game and 15 of the first 20 to take a lead it would not relinquish over Hollins (2-4, 0-2).

SU first pushed its advantage into double digits thanks to a Sarah Dixon 3-pointer at 11:08 of the first and kept it there for the remainder of the contest.

Dixon's 3-ball was one of four that coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft's women hit in the initial 10:19 of the contest.

Shenandoah finished its night 5 of 9 from behind the arc after making 4 of 6 in the first half.

Dixon's '3' also started a 14-3 run over a span of 7:12 that pushed the advantage out to a half-high 18 points.

The second half brought more of the same with SU outscoring its hosts 15-8 in the first seven minutes to take a 47-21 lead with 13:00 minutes to play.

The lead never fell below 23 points the rest of the way and Shenandoah scored 16 of the game's final 20 points.

Eleven of the 12 women who saw action in the contest put their names in the scoring column with Holly Chittenden leading the way with 15 points and a season-high 18 rebounds.

Ashley McGhee, Kirstyn Arcata and Olivia Callan had 10 points each.

SU won the battle of the boards 39-28.

Shenandoah continues this road trip on Saturday at Lynchburg.

###