BRIDGEWATER, VA-The Roanoke College women's basketball raced out to a 14-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game and got a last second blocked shot from sophomore
Erin Jenkins to hold on to a 69-67 upset win at #18 Bridgewater College on Tuesday. The Maroons, who snap a nine-game losing streak to the Eagles, improve to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Eagles are now 9-2 and 6-1 in the conference. Bridgewater entered the game as the nation's 18th ranked team in the last D3Hoops.com national poll.
The first nine minutes of the game completely belonged to the Maroons. Roanoke scored the first 14 points of the game and forced the Eagles to miss their 16 shots from the field. After the Eagles finally got on the board with 10:36 left in the first half, the Maroons quickly pushed their lead out to 16 points on two Caitlyn Long short jumpers. Holding on to that 16-point lead, the Maroons got their largest lead of the half on a Cindy McGraw elbow jumper with 6:34 left.
The Eagles trimmed the lead to 11 points, but the Maroons ran a perfectly executed pick and roll with Marcy Conner finishing the easy layup. Again the Eagles made a run and on a Shannon Scales jumper with 2:35 left the hosts cut Roanoke's lead to nine, 30-21. The Maroons, however, closed out the half on a 6-2 run and led 36-23 at the break.
Coming out of the break, the Eagles set up a designed play on which Scales drained a three from the top of the key to cut Roanoke's lead to 36-26. The Maroons responded with a 9-2 run sparked by three baskets in the paint by Brittany Johnson to take a 45-28 lead. Roanoke's lead got out to as many as 19 points in the second half, on a Jaleesa Osborne layup and later on an Ashley Nesbit elbow jumper. Nesbit's jumper came with 14:18 left in the game.
After the Nesbit basket, Bridgewater began to make things interesting. Over the next four minutes, the Eagles trimmed Roanoke's lead to 10 points, 59-49. Trailing 63-53 with 7:22 left, the Eagles put together a 10-1 run to get to within just one point, 64-63. Bridgewater's Amy Childs hit a three-pointer and the Eagles made five free throws in the run which ended with 5:23 showing on the clock.
Despite the Bridgewater push, the Maroons never cracked and never gave up the lead. Hanson countered with a jumper to get the lead back to three, but again Scales responded and the Eagles were again within one, 66-65, with 3:15 left. The two teams traded free throws and with 56 seconds left Roanoke had a 68-67 lead.
Eagle senior Katy Herr Lovell fired up a three-pointer from the wing with 13 seconds left that bounced high off the rim and through the net for an apparent go-ahead basket. Amidst the crowd's roar, however, one official blew his whistle and said Herr's shot hit the shot clock and was no good.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, Erin Jenkins was fouled and made one of two free throws to give RC the 69-67 lead. Off the second shot, which was the make, the Eagles brought the ball up the floor and got it into Herr's hands. Herr attempted a 17-foot jumper, but Jenkins swatted the shot away and out of bounds with just 0.2 seconds left. The Eagles were unable to tip in a shot and the Maroons got their second win over a ranked opponent this season.
McGraw led the Maroons with 13 points, while Hanson added 11 and Johnson and Caitlyn Long 10 each. Jaleesa Osborne was a key to the Maroon victory on both ends of the floor, scoring nine points and adding eight assists. On the other end, Osborne limited ODAC Player of the Year candidate Katy Herr Lovell to just six points on 3-for-12 shooting.
Roanoke vs. Bridgewater Box Score
