Roanoke College shot 62 percent (21-of-34) from the floor in the first half as the Maroons pulled ahead of the Eastern Mennonite University women's basketball team for a 87-62 conference win Saturday afternoon.

Roanoke improves to 22-3 overall on the season and 17-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. EMU falls to 13-12, 8-12 in the conference.

"They (Roanoke) shot great and moved the ball around, give them credit for a great game," explained EMU head coach Kevin Griffin. "I thought we played well, we had girls out there that gave everything they could, but they just shot lights out in the first half and we couldn't catch up."

Roanoke had five players reach double figures with Jaleesa Osbourne and Caitlyn Long leading the pack with 16 points each. Jordan Gholson was 7-of-8 from the floor, registering 14 points, while Erin Jenkins and Virginia Ann Hagood each added another 10 points to the Maroon attack.

Danielle Scott (Summit, NJ/Summit) led the Royals with 24 points and a 12-of-18 mark from the floor. Brittany Snyder (Raphine, Va./Riverheads) scored 16 points with junior guard Melissa Lewis (Stuarts Draft, Va./Stuarts Draft) registered seven points, 11 assists, and eight boards.

The Royals and Maroons each hit a long ball to start the first half with the visiting bench going ahead by five on a Long three-pointer and a jumper from Jenkins. EMU responded with back-to-back three balls by Lewis and Snyder to go up one (9-8, 17:01). Scott added another bucket, giving the home team their biggest lead of the game at three. Roanoke followed with a 4-0 swing to retake the lead as Hagood, Gholson, and Osbourne contributed to the attack.

Roanoke continued to press the ball up the court throughout the half. The Maroons used a 6-0 run to go ahead by seven and then later pushed the advantage up to 10 as a layup plus one from Bethany Holland made the score 30-20 with 8:22 remaining. Roanoke went ahead by 17 just before the end of the half as Holland dropped in another jumper, putting EMU behind 50-33 at the break.

The Maroons were 6-of-13 from behind the arc in the first stanza.

Roanoke continued to maintain possession of the lead throughout the second half. The Maroons used a 6-0 run early in the half to go ahead by 26 (61-35) before pushing their advantage to 29 at one point (66-37, 15:11). EMU chipped away at the deficit with just over four minutes remaining, dropping the RC lead down to 19 (77-58). Roanoke called a timeout and then answered the EMU score with back-to-back long balls from Hagood to go up by 25 (83-58, 3:32).

Holland finished with six points and four rebounds off the bench for Roanoke.

The Lady Royals will now head into the ODAC Tournament next week to tangle with the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College on Thursday, February 26, at 6 p.m.