For Immediate Release
February 26, 2000


Maroons Are ODAC Champs!!!
McConnell Named Tournanment MVP as Maroons Beat E&H, 59-48

SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College women's basketball team won its 13th Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship with
a 59-48 win over Emory & Henry College on Saturday night in the Salem Civic Center in Salem, VA. The Maroons, now 21-6 on
the season, receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which begins on Wednesday. The Maroons will be
making their 10th appearance in the NCAA postseason. 
With the exception of one tie in the second half, the Maroons led from start to finish in the contest. As has been the case all season the Roanoke defense was the key to the game. The Maroons held Emory & Henry to just 48 points, the lowest total by a team in the history of the championship game. The Wasps were able to shoot just 37 percent from the floor in the game, including a 3-for-10 effort from the three-point line. Emory & Henry had trouble finding an open shot all game, twice being called for a shot clock violation. Roanoke on the other hand, knocked down 46.5 percent of their attempts from the floor, 52.6 percent in the second half.
 
Emory & Henry tied the sore at 32 with 17:20 left in the game, but a free throw by senior Cheryl Rhodes, who finished the game with 11 points, gave the Maroons the lead for good. It was a six-point game (49-43) with 5:21 left on the clock, but the Wasps could manage just five points in the remaining time, while Roanoke scored 10 during the span, the final five from the free throw line. 

Roanoke jumped out to an early 11-2 lead (just four minutes into the game), but the Wasps fought back to within two with 6:23 left in the first half. The Maroons pushed the game back up to seven, but a Lindsay McKnight jumper with just 1:00 to go in the half brought E&H to within three, 28-25. 

Saturday's championship game was the lowest scoring title contest in the history of the ODAC tournament. Both Roanoke's 59 points and Emory's 48 points set a tournament record for lowest scoring total by the winning and losing team. 

Roanoke College senior Carrie McConnell had 11 points to match Rhodes' team-high effort, and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Suzanne Webb, who had seven points and three rebounds on Saturday and Crystal Barrett, who tallied five points and six rebounds, both were named to the All-Tournament team. 


Roanoke vs. Emory & Henry Box Score