SALEM, VA--Freshman forward
Erin Hanson (Blacksburg, VA/Blacksburg) scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Roanoke College women's basketball team to a 54-50 victory over Averett University on Saturday afternoon, a win that snaps a four-game losing streak for the Maroons. Averett, which has lost 11 times in the 12 all-time meetings between the two teams, falls to 1-5 on the season. The game was the final contest for the Maroons in the 2004 calendar year.
With neither team able to take a lead more than six points in the first 36 minutes of the game, the final result came down to the final 3:54 of regulation when the Maroons outscored their opponent 8-3 to pull out the four-point win. Trailing by one, 47-46, the Maroons took the lead on an
Annie Roehm (Weston, CT/Weston) layup with 3:29 left. Roehm collected the rebound of a missed Maroon three-point attempt and scored on the put-back. Free throws gave the Maroons a three-point lead, a lead that was cut to just one, 50-49, with 2:01 to play as a result of two Averett foul shots.
After two RC foul shots gave the team another three-point edge, Roehm had a key basket for the Maroons, this time on a driving layup from the wing that made the score 54-49 with just over a minute showing on the clock. The Cougars made one free throw with 31 seconds to play, but the Maroons were able to run out the clock after senior Jennie Schafer (Centreville, VA/Centreville) grabbed an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw.
A Schafer short jumper in the early stages of the first half gave Roanoke an 8-2 lead with 15:53 to play, the six-point margin the largest for either team in the game. In the remaining minutes, the game would be tied nine times and their would be 18 lead changes.
Hanson finished the game with 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field and an 8-for-8 effort from the free throw line. She also added eight rebounds. Her 20 points surpassed the 18 which she had in a game with Virginia Wesleyan earlier in the year. Roehm was the next highest scorer for the Maroons, ending the day with eight points and also adding seven rebounds.
Hanna Taylor was Averett's leading scorer with 15 points, that after scoring the team's first seven points of the game. Dawn Sheets scored 10 for the Cougars, who as a team made four three-pointers; that after coming in with a total of nine in their first five games of the year.
The Maroons are off until the 4th of January when they get back to game action against Old Dominion Athletic Conference rival Hollins University. The game between the Maroons and Hollins will begin at 2:00pm on the 4th and will be a part of a women's and men's triple header in the college's C. Homer Bast Center.
Roanoke vs. Averett Box Score
