SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College women's basketball team got its largest margin of victory of the season, picking up a 22-point win over Hollins University on Tuesday night in Salem, VA. The Maroons, whose previous high margin of victory was 12 points in a win over Eastern Mennonite, improves to 8-11 on the season and 7-8 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The win was the team's second consecutive win and second victory of the season over Hollins. Hollins falls to 4-14 overall and 1-12 in the ODAC.
The Maroons missed their first six shots of the game and in the process allowed Hollins to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Jennie Schafer (Centreville, VA/Centreville) finally broke the Maroon drought with 16:41 to play with an old-fashion three-point play and
Kayce Smith (Chattanooga, TN/The Baylor School) hit a jumper moments later to tie the score at five. Those five points were part of an 11-2 Maroon run.
Hollins trailed 11-7 with 14:00 but tied the game with four consecutive points. Schafer broke the tie with 11:07 to go with a layup. Schafer was fouled on the shot, giving her a chance at another three-point play. Schafer missed the free throw, but the ball fell right into Annie Roehm's (Weston, CT/Weston) hands. Roehm had the easy layup to give RC a 15-11 lead. The team did not give up that lead the rest of the way. Leading by five late in the half, the Maroons closed out the first 20 minutes on an 8-0 run to push the margin to 13, 37-24.
Any hopes Hollins had of making a comeback in the second half were dashed by the Maroons in the first 53 seconds. Out of the break, Chandra Forrester (Wytheville, VA/Rural Retreat) hit a layup 17 seconds into the half. Roanoke guard Veronica Kelly (Westport, CT/Staples) stole the ensuing inbounds pass and after a missed shot Schafer added a second-chance layup. Smith was then able to force another Hollins turnovers which she converted into Roanoke's sixth point in less than a minute. That start gave the Maroons a 43-24 lead. With the Maroons shooting 43.8 percent (14-for-32) from the field in the second half, their lead got out to as many as 27 points in the second half. The Maroon defense was a major factor in the second half surge. The Maroons limited Hollins to just one field goal in the final 13:30 of the contest. Hollins scored 14 of its final 16 points from the free throw line.
Schafer tied a career-high with 20 points in the victory, making eight of her nine shots from the floor. She also added seven rebounds and two blocked shots in just 22 minutes. Forrester scored 10 points and added a team-high eight boards, while both Roehm and Brittany Johnson (West Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) added eight points each.
Brandi Cochran scored a team-high 17 points for Hollins, which shot just 28 percent from the field. Jennifer Carpenter added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Maroons are at Randolph-Macon Woman's College for a 7:00pm contest on Friday in Lynchburg, VA.
Roanoke vs. Hollins Box Score
