For Immediate Release
February 25, 1999


Maroons Defeat E&H, 69-50, in the ODAC Tournament
Roanoke Will Play Bridgewater in Second Round on Friday

SALEM, Va.--The Roanoke College women' basketball team defeated the Emory & Henry College Wasps tonight, 69-50, in the first round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament being held at the Salem Civic Center. The Maroons improve to 20-5 on the season, and advance to Friday's semifinal round where they will play the Bridgewater College Eagles, who were victorious tonight over Guilford College. Emory & Henry sees its season come to a close with a 10-15 record.

The Maroons grabbed the lead at the intermission, 32-26, but found themselves trailing by eight points just five minutes into the second stanza. However, Roanoke went on a 33-6 run in the final 14:29 of the second half to pull out the victory. The Maroons were behind the Wasps, 44-36, with 14:29 to go in the second half, but held E&H scoreless for the next three minutes, to close the gap to just two. A Toree Morris three-pointer with just over nine minutes put RC up to stay. The Wasps trailed by one with 9:03 left, but failed to score another bucket for the next five minutes, a span in which Roanoke grabbed a 61-48 lead. Roanoke held E&H to just six points over the final 14 minutes to seal the deal.

Cassie Shoemaker scored 15 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds for the Maroons, who have never lost in the first round of the ODAC tournament. Shoemaker, the MVP of the 1998 tournament shot 50 percent from the floor in the game. Sarah Dingledine added 14 markers for Roanoke.

With the victory the Maroons improve to 11-1 all-time versus Emory & Henry in the conference's post-season tournament. The second-ranked Maroons will next play at 3:00 pm on Friday against Bridgewater College for the right to play in Saturday's championship game. Roanoke is in search of its 13th conference championship. The team has played in all but one conference championship game since league play began in 1982. The Maroons now sport a 44-4 (.917) record all-time in the ODAC tournament and are on a current seven-game winning streak in conference post-season action.

Also with the victory, Roanoke has recorded its 14th overall 20-win season, and 13th under the direction of head coach Susan Dunagan. In Dunagan's 18 years on the RC sideline, the team has failed to reach the 20-win plateau just five times.