Senior Jolene Kratz (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock), and junior Carolyn Riley (Warrenton, Va./Liberty-Bealeton) each scored in double figures as the Eastern Mennonite University women's basketball team moved to 3-2 on the year with a 65-56 non-conference win over Averett University.

"Averett did a good job of making us work on defense and held the ball for a good 20-25 seconds during each of their posessions," explained EMU head coach Kevin Griffin following the win. "When you have the ball that long it can be very fustrating but we were able to do enough on offense to get the job done. Carolyn and Jolene were huge for us in the paint and we did a much better job on our free throws compared to last week."

The first half of the contest featured nine lead changes as both teams worked to gain posession of the ball. Averett held a slim three-point cushion with 3:14 left in the half before a couple of baskets by junior forward Kathleen Kitchen (Gainesville, Va./Brentsville District) gave EMU a 32-31 lead heading into the half.

Averett shot 6-of-11 from three-point range with Brittany York coming off the bench to net a pefect 4-of-4 from behind the arc. Taylor Poirier led the Cougars with 15 points in the first half and was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

The Lady Royals expanded upon their lead in the second half and pushed the margin up to four points as Kratz added a three-point play with a layup and free throw following a foul by Averett. EMU increased its lead to as much as 10 points with 16:09 left on the clock with sophomore guard Ebony Dennis (Baltimore, Md./Western) recording one of her five steals on the day and getting an assist on a Riley layup. The Lady Royals expanded their lead by as much as 13 before holding off a late charge by the Cougars to complete the win.

Riley had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double with Kratz chipping in 16 points. EMU did most of their damage in the paint as the Lady Royals tallied 40 of their 65 points close to the basket as compared to 24 for the Cougars.

"This was a battle for us considering the long week ahead and coming off an tough game against Bridgewater on Saturday," added Griffin. "We changed up our defense in the second half and all around defended better as a team. We tried to be more patient with the ball, take some time off the clock, and run our style of offense to minimize their chances to comeback."

Senior guard Tara Jones (Richmond, Va./Meadowbrook) had nine points and six rebounds for EMU with freshman Brittany Snyder (Raphine, Va./Riverheads) coming off the bench and adding five points while pulling down three boards.

York was the leading scorer for Averett as she finished with 17 points. Gretchen Shepardy had eight points and 11 boards in the loss.

EMU will now remain at home for the next eight games as the Lady Royals host Randolph College on Wednesday, December 5, for a 7 p.m. ODAC match.