SALEM, VA- The Roanoke College women's basketball team defeated visiting Bridgewater College 74-65 on Tuesday night in Salem, VA to earn the regular season sweep of the Eagles, its first sweep of BC since the 2002-03 season. The Maroons, who actually had not beaten Bridgewater since that same 2002-03 campaign, improve to 13-10 overall and 11-7 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Eagles, who have lost three games in a row, fall to 16-8, 13-6 in the ODAC.
The early going belonged to the visiting Eagles. Bridgewater made seven of its first 10 shots from the field and on Shannon Scales three-pointer with 10:31 left in the first half opened up a 23-13 lead. Following a Maroon timeout, Roanoke's defense took over, holding Bridgewater scoreless for the next seven minutes. Meanwhile, the Maroon offense put up 17 straight points and with 4:41 left in the opening 20 minutes Roanoke led 30-23.
Sophomore center
Marcy Conner got the Maroon run going with a layup and a short jumper. Junior
Erin Hanson followed with one of her two three-pointers to trim the BC lead to three. With six minutes left
Cindy McGraw hit a jumper to draw the Maroons within one, 23-22, and on a
Caitlyn Long three-pointer with 5:24 to play the Maroons took the lead for good. After that three, Long made five straight free throws to give Roanoke the seven-point lead.
The Eagles broke their scoreless run on an Amy Childs free throw with 3:28 left. The Eagles got to within four, but Hanson made two foul shots with 11 seconds left, and then, following a Bridgewater turnover, went the length of the court and hit a 10-foot jumper as time expired.
Leading 36-28 at halftime, the Maroon lead got to as many as 14 points, 54-40, in the second half, but the Eagles slowly chipped away at the lead and on a Jessica Timberlake free throw with 1:23 left had cut the Roanoke lead to four, 65-61. Off the inbounds, Hanson threw the ball the length of the court to
Jaleesa Osborne, who's layup with 1:14 left gave the Maroons a 67-61 lead. Roanoke, which made its first 16 free throw attempts in the win, made four straight to get the lead back to double-digits.
Hanson led all players with 30 points, the fourth time this season she has scored 30 or more in a game. She also grabbed 12 rebounds to record her 13th double-double of the season. She made all 10 of her free throw attempts and both of her three-point tries. Long finished the game with 14 points, four rebounds, and two assists. In 26 minutes, junior guard
Torri Bridge had eight points, six rebounds, two assists, and a career-high two blocked shots.
Scales, who went into the game leading Bridgewater in scoring, scored 22 points, 10 of which came in the first 10 minutes of the game. Katy Herr-Lovell had 11 points, making just four of 12 shots, but also added six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
The Maroons are back in action on Friday evening in a home game against the Royals of Eastern Mennonite. EMU beat the Maroons 56-54 in the first meeting of the season. Roanoke then closes out its regular season oat 4:30pm Saturday against the Wildcats of Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
Roanoke vs. Bridgewater Box Score
