The true heart of a team isn't seen in how big of leads they hold. Rather, it's seen in how they handle adversity. The Eastern Mennonite women saw plenty of adversity as they started 1-for-17 from the floor, yet the Royals found a way to overcome a double digit deficit and take a 59-51 win over Virginia Wesleyan Saturday in Yoder Arena.

EMU missed its first 11 shots against the Marlins and didn't get its second field goal until the 8:25 mark. During that stretch, VWC led by as many as 10 points at 16-6.

But Skylar Scott's (Orange, Va./Orange County) jumper cut the lead to 16-8 and triggered the women. The Royals finished the half going 9-for-11 from the floor and grabbed a 29-27 lead at halftime as Shandell Taylor(Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) hit a fastbreak jumper with 54 seconds left.

Eastern Mennonite turned on the defense to start the second and scored the first six points. That started a 18-4 run which blew open a 47-31 lead with 11:37 to play.

But the Marlins weren't done, as they answered with 14-2 run to get within four points at 49-45.

With less than seven minutes to play, the Royals regrouped and didn't let the lead get below three. Stephanie Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) helped ice the game as she scored the last seven points for EMU.

The freshman drilled a big three pointer with 2:36 remaining to keep the edge at 55-49. Rheinheimer then went 4-4 from the free throw line in the final 38 seconds to lock up the eight-point win, 59-51.

Coach Kevin Griffin said his team's ability to stay solid despite the cold start said a lot.

"I was proud of our ability to finish even though it wasn't pretty," Griffin said.

EMU missed a few shots inside and finished with a 35% shooting percentage in the game. A key for the Royals was getting to the free throw line, where they went 18-27 while the Marlins were only 6-8.

"We talked before the game about shooting jump shots or shooting free throws," said Griffin. "We shot free throws. We had a number of point blank misses, fastbreak misses. I was just proud we kept attacking the basket."

The Royals also had a monster 47-33 edge in rebounding.

Rheinheimer finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Kala Yoders (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) led the women off the bench with a double double, hitting 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Danielle Rittenhouse (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) scored nine points. Sara Lamneck (Swoope, Va./Buffalo Gap) added nine rebounds and four steals.

Eastern Mennonite moves to 4-4 with the win, including 3-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Royals have another week off before closing the semester with a road game at Shenandoah next Saturday, Dec. 18, at 2:00pm.