SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament with a 72-49 victory over Virginia Wesleyan in the first round on Thursday night in Salem, VA. The Maroons improve to 19-7 overall on the season and will next play the Eagles of Bridgewater College in the semifinal round. That game will be at 3:00pm on Friday afternoon in the Salem Civic Center in Salem, VA.
Leading by a slim 48-42 margin with about 7:27 left in the contest, the Maroons used a defensive stand to up that lead to 20 points just five minutes later. After Virginia Wesleyan's Elisa Conway scored a basket to make the score 48-42, the Maroons held the Marlin to just one field goal over the next five minutes and with 2:28 left extended their lead to 64-44, that with a 16-2 run.
Junior guard
Lindsay Reynolds (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) got the run going with a layup in traffic with 6:46 to go. After
Veronica Kelly (Westport, CT/Staples) hit a free throw,
Chandra Forrester (Wytheville, VA/Rural Retreat) knocked down four consecutive shots from the line to give the Maroons a 55-44 lead. Senior center Jennie Schafer (Centreville, VA/Centreville) was then able to take advantage of the VWC pressure defense, making two consecutive driving layups from the top of the key to give Roanoke a 59-44 edge. Kelly hit three more free throws and Forrester stuck in a layup off of an offensive rebound and the Maroons owned the 64-44 lead.
The Maroons opened up a six-point edge, 14-8, in the first seven minutes of the game, that after not allowing VWC to hit a shot from the field in the first four minutes. Virginia Wesleyan, which won the game between the two schools in Virginia Beach earlier in the season, battled back and with 7:30 left in the first half took a one-point lead, 19-18. The Maroons quickly recaptured the lead, taking as much as a five-point lead (26-21), but again the Marlin fought back and took another lead with 4:11 left, 27-26. After a Schafer free throw evened the score at 27, Virginia Wesleyan took its largest lead of the contest on an Allison Wheeler field goal with 1:59 showing on the first half clock.
Maroon freshman
Erin Hanson (Blacksburg, VA/Blacksburg), who on Wednesday was named the ODAC Freshman of the Year, tied the score at 29 and with just 39 seconds left Schafer scored to give Roanoke a 31-29 advantage at the break.
Virginia Wesleyan dropped in the first bucket of the second half to even things up at 31, but Roanoke took the lead for good on a Kelly baseline-drive layup moments later.
Forrester led the Maroons with 15 points in the contest, getting 11 of those in the second half of play. Schafer finished the contest with 11 points, six coming in the last 20 minutes of action. After leading the team in scoring in the first half with nine points, Hanson finished the day with 10 and also led the team with eight rebounds.
Emily Smith (Hampton, VA/Hampton) came off the bench to score six, four in the first half. As a team, the Maroons shot 46.3 percent from the field, 58.3 in the first half.
The Maroons and the Eagles of Bridgewater College have met nine times in the ODAC tournament, with Roanoke winning seven of those contests. However, both of Bridgewater's wins have come in the past three meetings, including a 58-50 win in last season's quarterfinal round. Roanoke defeated the Eagles in the semifinal round of the 2003 tournament.
Roanoke vs. Virginia Wesleyan Box Score
