Despite being held well below their scoring average, the Eastern Mennonite basketball women used a prolonged 26-7 run to take control in Wednesday's 58-47 win at Shenandoah.  The Royals' 11th straight win clinches the top seed in next week's ODAC Tournament, as they improve to 14-1 in conference play.

The women are now 20-4 overall, notching their third straight 20-win season.  Prior to the 2011-12 campaign, there were only three 20-win seasons over 46 years of Eastern Mennonite basketball.  The Royals have also finished atop or tied atop the ODAC in three straight years.

EMU scored the first six points against Shenandoah.  After that, both offenses struggled for much of the first half before the Royals caught fire late.

SU tied the score at 17-17 with 6:06 to go before halftime, but the home team wouldn't score again until there was 26 seconds left.    Eastern Mennonite patiently scored 12 unanswered points to zip ahead 29-17, and they took a 29-18 lead into halftime.

The momentum carried into the second, where the Royals used a 14-6 start to push the lead to 43-24. The streak totaled a 26-7 run over the span of 12:46 to bookend halftime.

Shenandoah slowly chipped into the big lead, and eventually got within nine points with 2:41 left to play.  But that would be as close as SU would get, with Eastern Mennonite playing good defense and hitting their free throws to the final 58-47 margin.

Despite making just 1-of-7 three pointers, the Royals out-shot their hosts 47% to 35%.  SU missed all eight of their three pointers.

Bianca Ygarza (Conestoga, Pa./Penn Manor) finished one rebound shy of a double double, coming in with team highs of 18 points and nine rebounds.  Keyla Baltimore (Bristow, Va./Brentsville District) was the other main weapon, pouring in 17 points with three assists.  Nobody else had more than six points.

Holly Chittenden led the Hornets with 14 points and 13 rebounds.  Imani Heggins needed 18 shots to tally 11 points.

EMU wraps up the regular season Saturday afternoon against second-place Lynchburg.  As the top seed in the ODAC Tournament, the Royals receive a First Round bye and will play in the quarterfinals next Thursday afternoon in Salem, Va.