WINCHESTER, Va. – The Shenandoah University women's basketball team celebrated head coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft's birthday Saturday by downing the University of Lynchburg, 64-55.
 
In a game that was delayed by two hours because of Lynchburg's travel issues, Shenandoah (8-5, 5-2 ODAC) snapped a two-game losing streak with the win over its fellow ODAC Hornets.

IN BRIEF

Shenandoah would hold the lead for 38:24 of the contest, but needed a strong finish at the line in order to dispatch Lynchburg (7-7, 4-3).
 
Lynchburg cut its deficit to three points, 53-50, with 1:59 remaining before senior Jordan Sondrol took over.
 
Sondrol, who finished with a game-high 27 points, canned a 3-pointer (one of two on the day for her) on the next trip down the floor and then made 7-of-8 free throws in the final 43 seconds to ice the victory.
 
Sondrol, a career 86 percent shooter from the line, made her first six attempts before missing the front end of a two-shot opportunity with 19 seconds left.
 
Shenandoah shot 79 percent from the line from the game and was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
 
Lynchburg's lone lead came following the opening bucket of the contest but was short-lived as Shenandoah answered with a 20-6 run to push its advantage to 12 points by the opening possession of the second quarter.
 
Lynchburg cut the deficit to one point late in the second and tied the contest early in the third, but Shenandoah answered with scoring runs on both occasions and never let its lead fall below three points the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE

"I was very proud of our team tonight," Smeltzer-Kraft said. "We really focused on what we need to do coming out of halftime, and we won the third quarter. We saw contributions in many different forms from different people this afternoon."

BY THE NUMBERS

Shooting: SU 21-of-48, 44 percent. LYN 18-of-50, 36 percent.
3-point shooting: SU 3-of-6, 50 percent. LYN 3-of-14, 21 percent.
FT shooting: SU 19-of-24, 79 percent. LYN 16-of-27, 59 percent.
Rebounding: SU 33, Roanoke 32

INDIVIDUAL

            SU Scoring: Jordan Sondrol 27, Sierra St. Cyr 12
            LYN Scoring: Lizzie Davis 16, Erin Green 15
            SU Rebounding: Sarah Donley 7, Ragan Johnson 6
            LYN Rebounding: Alissa Smalls 6
 
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