When Sara Lamneck (Swoope, Va./Buffalo Gap) drained a three pointer to give EMU the first points of the game at Roanoke, things looked good. After the Maroons scored the next 18, things did not look so good. The Royals never regrouped and dropped the road contest Wednesday night, 59-41.

After Lamneck's triple just 50 seconds into the game, Eastern Mennonite did not score again for nearly nine minutes. Biance Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) finally hit a jumper at the 10:25 mark to end the drought, but the points only made the score 18-5.

The women settled down, but could never mount an offensive charge. At halftime, Roanoke led 28-14.

Addie Bashorun (Manassas, Va./Brentsville District) opened the second half the way the women opened the first, as she canned a three pointer to trim the lead back down to 11. The Maroons answered with a three of their own, however, and never let the edge below 13 points.

The Royals did a good job with the ball, as their 15 turnovers were well below their average of 27.6 per game. But the women struggled to hit their shots, shooting 15% in the first half and finishing at 22% (14-for-63) for the game.

Roanoke was 22-54 from the floor for 41%, effectively making the difference in the final score. The Maroons had a slight 45-44 edge in rebounding and blocked eight EMU shots.

Bashorun and Kala Yoders (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) each finished with nine points. Stephanie Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) canned a couple of threes and finished with eight points.

Lamneck and Kori Penick (Lynchburg, Va./Virginia Episcopal) each had seven rebounds.

Second-leading scorer Danielle Rittenhouse (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) missed the game with an injury.

The loss drops the Royals to 2-4 overall, including 1-2 in the ODAC. Eastern Mennonite plays at 4-2 Hollins this Saturday at 2:00pm.