Box Score A late charge by the visting team fell just short as Bridgewater College defended their home turf against the Eastern Mennonite University women's basketball team Tuesday night as the Eagles held on for a 61-56 victory in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action.

EMU drops to 8-2 overall on the season and 3-2 in the ODAC. Bridgewater improves to 4-5 and an even 2-2 in the conference.

Ebony Dennis (Baltimore, Md./Western) scored a season-high 16 points for EMU while collecting five boards. Brittany Snyder (Raphine, Va./Riverheads) added another 13 points off the bench.

BC was led by Turner Ashby High School alum Jordan Burkholder who led all scorers with 20 points, including a 10-for-10 mark from the charity stripe. Burkholder's six points in the game's final minute helped keep the Lady Royals at bay as they tried to complete a second half comeback.

Rebecca Henderson had eight points, 12 rebounds, and five blocked shots in the win.

A 9-0 run to start the game put the Lady Royals up over their cross-town rivals. BC mounted a comeback at the 10:52 mark as they used a 5-0 swing to make the score 14-10. Snyder dropped in two on a layup, giving EMU a six-point edge, only to have the Eagles cut that in half on a bucket plus one by Bianca Booker.

Booker finished with nine points and three steals for BC.

Jenny Logan knocked down a jumper on the Eagles next possession. Following a Dennis layup, Lacey Barnett and Jennifer Saunders gave Bridgewater their first lead of the game on back-to-back layups (20-19).

EMU took the lead back on a Danielle Scott (Summit, NJ/Summit) jumper with 6:24 left in the half. Burkholder, who is averaging 13.9 points per game, gave the Eagles the lead for good on a follow-up bucket. Bridgewater closed out the first half on a pair of Burkholder free throws to take a six point lead into the break.

Scott had eight of her 10 points in the first half.

Both teams struggled to keep the turnovers down in the first half and that trend continued in the second frame. EMU and BC committed 16 errors in the first 20 minutes of action with the Eagles adding another 15 miscues in the second half to keep the Lady Royals close. An 11-point cushion (37-26) for the Eagles quickly disapated as four turnovers and six unanswered points cut the advantage down to five. Following a 4-0 Eagle rally, Dennis answered with a momentum stopping three-pointer that kept the deficit at a managable six point margin (41-35, 10:42).

BC continued to answer the Lady Royals' threats with baskets from Bosserman, Burkholder, and Logan. Dennis again came up big for EMU as she dropped in her second three of the half to put EMU down only three. With 3:36 remaining BC added a pair on two Burkholder free throws only to have Snyder hit her own three-pointer to make it a two point game (51-49, 2:27).

Burkholder and the Eagles then took over as the Lady Royals were unable to get that final push to put them over the top. Emileigh Lambert and Burkholder hit layups on the next two BC possessions with just over a minute left. Snyder nailed both free throw attempts for EMU only to have Burkholder answer with two of her own, icing the win.

Melissa Lewis (Stuarts Draft, Va./Stuarts Draft) had 11 points and four assists in the loss.

Next up for EMU is the Wasps of Emory & Henry College on Friday, January 9, at 7 p.m., in Emory, Va.