For Immediate Release December 9, 1999
Dunagan Wins Game Number 375
Carrie McConnell Scores 23 Points In 87-79 Win Over Guilford
Roanoke vs.Guilford Box Score
SALEM, VA--In the final Roanoke College basketball game of 1999, women’s head coach Susan Dunagan picked up her 375th career win as the Maroons handled Guilford College, 87-79, in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference contest. Roanoke heads into the break with a 6-2 record and a 4-1 mark against league opponents, while Guilford falls to 4-2, 2-1. Carrie McConnell (Radford, VA/Pulaski County) scored a game-high 23 points for the Maroons, while also tossing in nine assists to the mix. The senior point guard was 6-of-9 from the field, including two three-pointers and missed just two free throws in 11 attempts. Cheryl Rhodes (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) added a season-high 17 points, while Holly Weber (Stuart, VA/Patrick County) scored 14 markers in the winning cause.
Guilford took an early lead, 2-0, but the Maroons used a 14-2 run to jump out to a 10-point lead with 15:26 remaining in the first half. Roanoke maintained the lead for the rest of the half, pushing the advantage to as much as 13, and continued to lead in the second half until the 8:52 mark when Guilford tied the score at 64.
The Maroon had had the lead, 57-47, with 14:58 left on the game clock, but the Quakers embarked on a 17-7 run that knotted the game at 64. Megan Barlow (Bethesda, MD/BCC) drained three three-pointers during the run to get GC back in the game. Barlow finished the contest with 21 points. After the Quakers tied the game, RC regained control, but saw Guilford come within two points with 1:51 left, but the Maroons scored seven of their final nine points at the free throw line, holding off the Guilford squad.
Heading into the game, the Maroons had made five three-pointers all season, but canned six against the Quakers alone, finishing 6-for-8 from beyond the three-point stripe. In addition to the two McConnell hit, Rhodes was a perfect 3-of-3 and Weber added one to the RC arsenal.
Erin Beacham (Atlanta, GA/Lovett School) matched Barlow’s 21 points in the game, while Amy Evans (New Bern, NC/New Bern) chipped in 16. The Quakers played most of the game without starting point guard Kerrie Campbell (Greensboro, NC/Grimsley) who went down with an ankle injury just five minutes into the contest.
Roanoke’s head coach Susan Dunagan becomes just the 10th active Division III women’s coach in the nation to win at least 375 games in a career. Her winning percentage of 76.4 is the fifth highest among the current coaches that have reached or eclipsed the 375-win plateau.
Roanoke will take the rest of December off and will next be in action on January 5th as it travels to Lynchburg College for a 7:00 pm contest. The matchup will pit the Maroons against Lynchburg and its head coach Richie Waggoner, who had spent the previous nine seasons on the Roanoke sidelines as Dunagan’s assistant.