SALEM, Va. – No. 8 Shenandoah University nearly pulled off the first upset of the 2014 ODAC Women's Basketball Tournament before falling 53-52 to top-seeded Eastern Mennonite Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinal round at the Salem Civic Center.

Shenandoah (10-17) set itself up for the upset with a 10-3 run over the final 4:05 that put the Hornets down just one, 53-52.

Junior Holly Chittenden, who finished with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, brought coach C.K. Calhoun's club to that one-point deficit with a layup at the 10-second mark.

Calhoun's club, which forced 13 turnovers on the day, got the final one as Chittenden made a steal in the backcourt with seven seconds left.

Following a pair of timeouts sandwiching an EMU (22-4) foul, SU had an inbounds with three seconds remaining under its own basket to try and sink the winning bucket.

Sophomore Imani Heggins, the squad's lone representative to the All-ODAC squad, received that inbounds and took the shot as time expired, but the attempt went off the front rim and the Royals escaped with the victory.

The final play capped a game in which the two teams traded the lead seven times and were tied on one other occasion.

Eastern Mennonite had a 13-point lead in the first half only to see Shenandoah storm back into it with an 11-4 run over the final 4:36 of the stanza.

From this point on, the EMU lead remained in single digits and was never more than eight points.

SU shot 38 percent for the game to 37 percent for Eastern Mennonite with the victors holding a 34-33 advantage on the glass.

Shenandoah outscored EMU 22-16 in the paint.

The Hornets 2014-15 schedule will be announced this spring.

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