Roanoke looks to avenge it's 61-60 loss to Lynchburg earlier this week with a win tonight. A victory will contribute to the Maroon's best start since the 1996-97 ODAC Championship team who went 22-1 before losing to Randolph-Macon in the regular season finale.
Series Information
The Maroons lead the all-time series, 33-29, 28-27 since Dunagan has been at Roanoke. From 1976-1996, the Maroons led the series, 23-8. From 1996-99, the Yellow Jackets won seven of the next nine meetings. The Maroons won the following six meetings over the next three years before RMC took 13 of the final 15 meetings since 2002. In 2006-07, the Maroons took the first game at home in 2006, 78-65 (12/2), breaking an eight-game losing streak. The final two games of the season went down to the wire, as R-MC won 66-60 at home and 76-72 in the ODAC Tournament. Last season, Roanoke fell to #12 RMC, 73-67 at home and 60-58 in Ashland.
Last Meeting – Jan. 26, 2008
Down by 11 at the half, Randolph-Macon came back to defeat the Maroons, 60-58 on Friday night in Ashland, VA. The Maroons play extremely well on the road and had the lead with two minutes remaining, but couldn't hold on.
The Yellow Jackets forced two turnovers late and scored back-to-back buckets for the win.
Caitlyn Long,
Jaleesa Osborne and
Jordan Gholson all had a shot to send the game into overtime, but couldn't convert.
RMC was led by Molly Ariail with 26 points and 13 rebounds. The Yellow Jackets shot 82 % from the free-throw line. Amanda Hiltunen added 10 points while Lindsay Riesbeck added eight and forced five turnovers by the Maroons.
The Maroons were led by Osborne with 18 points and six steals.
Torri Bridge added 14 points, while Long added 10 of her own. Sarah Keller with nine rebounds and
Jordan Gholson with six helped the Maroons win the battle on the boards 47-35.
Last Time Out
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.
Honoring Players of the Past - Karen Jenkins (1991)
Jenkins is the sixth all-time leading scorer in team history and after the 1990-91 season became the first Maroon selected to the First Team All-American squad. She earned ODAC Player of the Year honors in 1991 and was a two-time pick to the ODAC First Team All-Star squad. In her four seasons in Salem, Jenkins led the Maroons to two conference titles. In her career, which spanned from 1988 until 1991, Jenkins scored 1,235 career points. She is also third on the team's all-time rebounding list with 724 in her RC tenure. Jenkins, who is now known as Karen Harvey, is currently an assistant coach with the Ferrum College women's basketball team.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
R-MC, who are 5-4, 3-2 in the ODAC, dropped three consecutive games last week for the first time since 2002-03. The Yellow Jackets began that season 0-5 but finished 20-10, winning the ODAC Championship and advancing to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The women defeated Randolph College 79-43 on Jan. 6 to move them into fourth in ODAC standings. Molly Ariail scored 24 points on Sunday to lead all players in the Yellow Jackets' 67-66 loss to Washington & Lee. Ariail also tallied her 1,000th career point on Sunday. Ariall averages 19.8 ppg and 9.7 rpg. Other offensive threats are Amanda Hiltunen and Lindsay Riesbeck with 16.8 ppg and 9.0 ppg respectively. Riesbeck also averages 5.1 boards per game.
About the Maroons
Roanoke, who are 8-1, 4-1 in the ODAC, ended its suffered its first loss of the season with a 61-60 loss at Lynchburg on Tuesday. It was the Maroons first loss in five years to the Hornets. The eight-game win streak was tied for the seventh-best in program history. The most came during the 1990-91 season with 26. The 4-0 start in ODAC play was the best since the 1997-98 season (10-0). Roanoke is led by
Jordan Gholson who averages 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in addition to 22 blocked shots which leads the ODAC. Senior
Virginia Anne Hagood scored a game-and career-high 17 points in a 68-63 win over Ferrum, which had only lost to teams with votes or ranked in the top-25. Hagood has scored in double-figures four games this season and in back-to-back games for the second time in her career.
Jaleesa Osborne is leading the Maroons in free-throw percentage (90.3%) and steals (25) while second in points (11.8 ppg) and assists (27).
Spread of Scoring
Roanoke has five players who are averaging at least eight points per game, led by Gholson and Osborne who are averaging double-figures. Osborne has scored in double-figures seven of nine games this season while Gholson and
Erin Jenkins have score more than 10 points in five games. Gholson has had the only two 20-point performances this season, including a season-best 24 against Randolph (12/5).
Record Watch
Jordan Gholson had a school-record five first-half blocked shots to increase her season total to 22, six shy of entering the top-10 single season mark. Her 67 career blocked shots has moved her up to eighth on the all-time list. She needs four more to move past
Sarah Dingledine '00 for sixth on that list.
Jaleesa Osborne's 163 career steals rank her eighth on the top-10 list at Roanoke and needs 21 to tie
Marcee Hufton '96 for seventh. Her 202 career assists are only 33 away from entering the top-10 in that category.
Caitlyn Long has 89 career three-pointers made, which is currently seventh, needing four more to pass
Kay Caldwell '94 for sixth on the list. Her 281 career three-point attempts rank her seventh at Roanoke.
Best Start Milestone still in Progress
Roanoke broke its eight-game win streak with the 61-60 loss to Lynchburg earlier this week but a win tonight will contribute to the Maroon's best start since the 1996-97 ODAC Championship team who went 22-1 before losing to Randolph-Macon in the regular season finale.
