WINCHESTER, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's basketball winning streak stands at five games thanks to a 52-43 ODAC home victory over Roanoke College Saturday afternoon at the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center.
Shenandoah (5-2, 3-0 ODAC) pulled away in the fourth quarter to down the Maroons (4-3, 2-2) for the fifth time in 11 lifetime meetings.
IN DEPTH
The Hornets struggled from the field in the initial 30 minutes of play, making just 10 field goals, but used a stellar defensive effort to keep the Maroons at bay.
SU held its visitors to just one field goal in the opening stanza and ended up turning the Maroons over 19 times in the contest.
Shenandoah scored 16 points off of those 19 turnovers to help secure the victory.
With the score tied at 30-30 one possession into the fourth quarter, SU took the lead for good on a
McKenzie Mathis layup at the 9:02 mark.
Sierra St. Cyr followed with a 3-pointer, one of four on the day for the Hornets, and Roanoke never seriously threatened again.
Mathis' reverse layup started a 16-4 Shenandoah run over 5:10 that gave the hosts a 12-point, 46-34, lead with 3:12 to play.
The Hornets made 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.
BY THE NUMBERS:
Shooting: SU 17-of-38, 45 percent. Roanoke: 18-of-58, 31 percent
3-point shooting: SU 4-of-9, 44 percent. Roanoke 3-of-20, 15 percent
FT shooting: SU 14-of-22, 64 percent. Roanoke 4-of-8, 50 percent
Rebounding; SU 33, Roanoke 32
Individual Leaders:
Scoring:
Shenandoah:
Jordan Sondrol 9,
Sierra St. Cyr 9
Raonoke: Whitney Hopson 11
Rebounding:
Shenandoah: Regan Johnson 7
Roanoke: Corinne McPadden 7
QUOTABLE
"We talked about forcing them to play at our pace and we were very successful at doing that,"
Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft said. "We held them to 43 points, won the rebounding battle and had nine steals along with five blocks. This was an outstanding defensive effort."
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