HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's basketball team earned its first-ever ODAC win over Eastern Mennonite Tuesday evening with a 61-36 road victory over the Royals.

Shenandoah (10-12, 6-7 ODAC) downed EMU (12-9, 7-6) for the first time since winning 76-68 on December 18, 2010; Eastern Mennonite had won nine straight between the two programs prior to tonight's Hornets victory.

After the two teams traded the lead three times in the first 10 minutes, SU took the lead for good on a Shannon Kuhn layup with 16 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.

Kuhn's bucket came in the midst of a 17-3 run that turned a 3-point (10-7) Eastern Mennonite lead into a 22-13 Shenandoah advantage by the 4:22 mark of the second.

Sophomore Sarah Donley capped this spurt off by draining a 3-pointer at the 4:22 mark; this also turned out to be the final bucket scored in the first half.

Eastern Mennonite could not cut into the Hornets lead as the Royals shot just six percent (1-for-17) from the field in the second quarter and missed all nine of their opportunities from behind the arc.

SU kept up the pressure in the third, outscoring EMU 20-16, before pulling away by scoring 16 of the 23 fourth-quarter points. Coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft's club scored 23 of the final 30 points of the contest.

The hosts' shooting woes continued in the second half as Eastern Mennonite shot just 3-of-15 (20 percent) in the fourth.

For the game, EMU was 15-of-60 (25 percent) to the Hornets 52 percent (24-of-42).

Sophomore Jordan Sondrol led the victors with 13 points with Kuhn adding 12 off the bench.

We played hard and wanted that win so badly," Smeltzer-Kraft said. "Our kids deserved this ODAC road victory and I was very proud of our defensive effort for 40 minutes."

The Hornets return home on Saturday for a 4:30 ODAC contest versus Roanoke. It is Senior Day for the squad and Kirstyn Arcata will be honored prior to the contest.

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