Young teams go through growing pains, and Monday was one of those nights. After scoring the first bucket against Bridgewater, the Eastern Mennonite women fell behind 10-2 and never regrouped, dropping a 62-42 decision to their rivals.

The confidence the Royals showed in last Tuesday's win over Randolph-Macon was gone as the Eagles quickly jumped to a 15-4 lead.

The cushion ballooned to as many as 17 in the first half before EMU showed some life in the closing seconds. Danielle Rittenhouse (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) scored the final five of the half on a three pointer and a breakaway lay-up to draw the Royals within 33-23 at the break.

But Bridgewater had a swift knock-out in the second half, opening on a 21-6 run to blow the lead to 54-29 with 10:43 to go.

EMU never got closer than 20 the rest of the way in the 62-42 loss.

The women struggled on offense and it showed in their shot selection. They scored just 19 points on 19% shooting in the second half and finished with a 27% clip.

"We didn't rebound and we didn't execute on the offensive end," Coach Kevin Griffin said. "Those two are a recipe for disaster."

EMU entered the game with a +8.5 rebounding margin, but BC outrebounded them 39-37. The Eagles shot 40% and further damaged the Royals with nine blocked shots.

Rittenhouse led the women with 12 points and a pair of assists. Sara Lamneck (Swoope, Va./Buffalo Gap) had 10 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.

Kala Yoders (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) led the second unit with five points and four rebounds.

The loss drops EMU to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. They hit the road Wednesday for yet another big ODAC match at Roanoke. Game time is 5:00pm.