BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Host Bridgewater College used a big second quarter to key an 87-71 ODAC women's basketball victory over Shenandoah.
The Eagles (8-9, 4-5 ODAC) outscored SU (5-13, 2-7) 22-7 in the second to take 46-29 lead into the halftime break.
The Hornets cut that deficit by six points with a 29-point third period, but BC answered by outscoring Shenandoah 18-13 in the final stanza to take the 16-point win.
The victory is the seventh straight for the Eagles in the all-time series between the two schools.
With the Hornets leading 22-20 following a Morgan Kuhns 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in the first, BC seized control of the contest with a 17-2 run that sandwiched the end of the first.
Junior Erin French ended that run with a jumper at 3:10 only to see the hosts score seven of the game's next eight points to expand the lead to 17 points with 78 seconds to play in the half.
That lead reached as high as 24 points before Shenandoah reeled off a 16-3 run in just 2:23 to cut the deficit to 11, 63-52, with 3:38 to go in the third.
Coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft's Hornets would continue to battle, eventually getting as close as nine points on three different occasions with the last coming at the 2:11 mark of the fourth.
Bridgewater then closed out the victory by scoring the game's final seven points.
Kanesha Foster paced SU with 21 points with French adding 14 points and 10 rebounds and Shannon Kuhn 12 points.
Olivia Callan rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.
Cassidy Burkholder, who was the ODAC Player of the Week last week, had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the hosts.
"I thought we played with unbelievable grit tonight," Smeltzer-Kraft said. "Unfortunately, it is very difficult to beat a team that shoots that well from the floor. We never quit and we displayed a ton of resiliency."
Bridgewater shot 63 percent (36 of 57) from the floor, including a sizzling 10 of 14 (71 percent) in the second quarter.
Shenandoah continues this road trip on Saturday with a 4:30 ODAC game at Lynchburg.
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