SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College women's basketball team defeated Ferrum College 70-65 on Monday night in Salem, VA to improve to 3-0 on the season, the team's best start since the 1997-98 season. The Maroons also improve to 17-5 against the Panthers over the last 21 seasons. Ferrum falls to 0-3 on the year.
A closely contested game throughout, neither team was able to take more than an 11-point lead. That was a 46-35 Roanoke lead early in the second half, a lead that quickly disappeared thanks to a 7-0 Ferrum run. Quanita Bennett hit a three-pointer with 15:06 to play in the second to cut Roanoke's lead to four. Three times over the final 15 minutes the Panthers cut Roanoke's lead to just three, but that would be as close as they could get. With 2:15 to play in the contest Ferrum's Aline Alzime hit a three to make the score 66-63 in Roanoke's favor, but the visitors would score just two points the rest of the way. Moments after Alzime's three Roanoke's Jennie Schafer (Centreville, VA/Centreville) scored two of her team-high 13 points to push the RC lead back to five.
After both team's traded the lead early in the contest, the Maroons took the lead for good with 6:06 to play in the first half. Sophomore
Cindy McGraw (Lynchburg, VA/EC Glass) scored on a shot in the paint to give the Maroons a 27-25 lead. They would not trail the rest of the way. An
Erin Hanson (Blacksburg, VA/Blacksburg) three-point play with just over two minutes left in the first half gave RC its largest lead of the first half, nine points, 36-27.
Lindsay Reynolds (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) hit a three-pointer to open up play in the second half to give Roanoke a 10-point cushion and after Ferrum trimmed the lead to eight, Schafer scored the next three points to give RC its largest lead of the game, 46-35.
Schafer led the Roanoke scoring effort with 13 points, while fellow senior
Chandra Forrester (Wytheville, VA/Rural Retreat) scored 12. Both Reynolds and McGraw chipped in eight points, while Hanson had seven points and a team-best 10 rebounds. All 10 Maroons that played in the game scored at least two points, with senior
Emily Smith (Hampton, VA/Hampton) tossing in six.
Ferrum's Tara Toland was a thorn in Roanoke's side throughout, finishing the day with not only a game-high 18 points but also nine steals, seven assists, and three rebounds. Six of Toland's steals came in the second half, 20 minutes of play that saw the Maroons turn the ball over 15 times. Ferrum had 13 more shot attempts than the Maroons in the second half.
The Maroons will look to extend their winning streak to four games when they travel to Eastern Mennonite University on Tuesday November 30th. The game is Roanoke's 2004-05 Old Dominion Athletic Conference season opener. The Maroons are looking to also go 4-0 for the first time since 1997-98. This current three-game run is the team's longest since late in the 2002-03 season.
Roanoke vs. Ferrum Box Score
