An early deficit proved to be the difference in Thursday's loss for the EMU basketball women. Playing in their first game in 30 days, the Royals couldn't overcome the opening five minutes in a 68-51 loss to Virginia Wesleyan.

Eastern Mennonite slides to 0-3 as they prepare for their regular season finale on Saturday, hosting Randolph at 2:00pm. The ODAC Tournament First Round will be played next Thursday, March 4.

The Marlins (4-6/3-4 ODAC) scored the first seven points in Thursday's game and led 12-2 at the 5:03 mark of the first. EMU finally settled in and turned on their defense to trigger a 7-0 run to shave the margin to three, but the visitors controlled the final minute of the frame to the tune of seven straight points to rebuild a 20-10 lead.

That pattern continued all night.

The Royals clamped down on defense once again to start the second, holding VWU without a point for the first 5:45 of the second. Tiffany Carey (Bedford, Va./Jefferson Forest) and Constance Komara (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) scored all of the points in the women's 7-0 run to get within 20-17, but another quick jab from the Marlins pushed the lead back to 26-17.

Both teams picked up the pace in the third, combining to put 40 markers on the board. But each team scored 20 of those, leaving EMU with a 51-39 deficit heading into the fourth. A triple from Claiborne Poston (Midlothian, Va./Millwood) got the women within 55-47 with 6:09 to play, but that was as close they would get.

The Royals racked up 15 steals and forced VWU in 23 turnovers for a +12 margin. But the Marlins negated that advantage by scoring 14 second chance points.

Playing in her first game of the season, Carey exploded for 17 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. Each of those numbers were a career high for the sophomore.

Poston and Emily McCombs (Culpeper, Va./Eastern View) each had nine points and three assists. Mya Wright (Palmyra, Va./Fluvanna County) added nine rebounds while Zebe Rhodes (Hayes, Va./Gloucester) also had three assists.

Adaje Williams led Virginia Wesleyan with 16 points and 10 rebounds. S'Zahria Jones, who entered with a team best 14.7 scoring average, was held scoreless in the first half before adding her own 16 and 10 in the second. Jessica Jennings put up 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists.