LYNCHBURG, Va. --- The women's basketball team fell to Lynchburg, 61-60 at Turner Gym in Lynchburg this evening. The Maroons dropped to 8-1 with a 4-1 mark in the ODAC. The Hornets improved to 5-6 overall, 3-3 in the ODAC.
Roanoke is now 58-8 all-time against Lynchburg, 9-1 over the last five seasons with their first loss to the Hornets since 2004. The loss breaks the eight-game win streak as the 8-0 start was the best in school-history. It was tied for the seventh-best win-streak in program history. The most came during the 1990-91 season with 26.
The Maroons Achilles heel was free-throws on the night, shooting 18-of-33 (54.5%) for the game. They also shot 33.9-percent from the floor, both stats the lowest of the season.
Caitlyn Long sparked the Maroons early with back-to-back three-pointers to make it, 12-7 early in the first half at the 15-minute mark.
It would be the largest lead of the game for either team as there were seven ties and 11 lead changes through the contest.
Lynchburg responded with a 15-5 run over the next nine minutes to give them a five-point lead, 22-17 with 6:36 left in the half.
Roanoke chipped away at the Hornets' lead and went into the half with a 31-30 deficit.
Lynchburg held the lead for most of the second half but the game remained close as the Hornets couldn't pull away. The largest lead was no more than five points at the 14:40 mark in the second half.
Long's third three-pointer of the night gave Roanoke their first lead of the second half, 54-53 with just under four minutes remaining.
Jaleesa Osborne's free-throw with 1:54 left gave the Maroons a 57-53 advantage which capped a short 6-0 run and seemed primed for its ninth-straight win.
But Lynchburg had other ideas and scored eight-straight points during the next 1:30 as JaQuan Eldridge's three free-throws made it 61-57 with nine seconds to go.
Long hit a three with two seconds left, but wasn't enough to send the game into overtime as time expired.
Osborne had 16 points and two steals to lead Roanoke. She moved into eighth all-time in career steals at Roanoke with 163. Her 202 assists is 11th all-time at Roanoke.
Long finished with a season-high 15 points, 4-6 from beyond the arc. With 90 career three-pointers made, she is now two shy of moving into sixth all-time in that category. She is currently seventh in career three-pointers attempted with 281.
Jordan Gholson finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots on the night, including all in the first half, which is the most in program history for blocked shots in a half. She has moved into the top-10 in career blocked shots at Roanoke with 67, which is eighth on that list. She needs four more to move into a tie for seventh with
Sarah Dingledine '00.
The women return to ODAC play with two games this weekend at home against Randolph-Macon (Jan. 9 @ 7 p.m.) and Virginia Wesleyan (Jan. 10 @ 4 p.m.). The Maroons are 32-32 all-time against the Yellow Jackets, including a 14-1 advantage since 2003 for R-MC. Three of the last four meetings have been decided by six points or less. Roanoke holds a 34-17 series lead against the Marlins with VWC winning six of the last eight meetings. The last two meetings (1-1) have been decided by a total of five points.
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