EMU’s basketball women battled at home Tuesday evening against a tall, talented ODAC neighbor in Randolph Macon. The 89-56 defeat spells the Royals’ eighth conference loss this season. What the final score doesn’t show is the intensity and effort the EMU women displayed on the court Tuesday night, especially in the first half.
The same matchup ended in a 96-50 RMC victory in December. With that experience in the past, EMU entered Tuesday’s game knowing they would have to shut down Kelly Williams, a 6’3” Preseason All-American guard. Williams recorded 21 points and five blocks against the Royals in December. EMU senior forward Chrissy Delawder suggested double-teaming Williams. Head Coach Jenny Posey agreed.
“Chrissy did a great job with [Williams] one-on-one, and the double really helped too,” said the second-year women’s basketball coach. “Then it seemed like when they took [Williams] out, even though she’s their best player, our defensive intensity dropped.”
EMU double-teamed Williams aggressively inside the three-point line. The Royals wouldn’t let the Yellow Jackets get comfortable early on, countering their opponents’ buckets with quick scores of their own. The scoreboard read 8-8 through the first six minutes. Sophomore forward Constance Komara sunk a 3-pointer and tied the game 17-17 with a breakaway steal with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. RMC led just 23-22 after one.
A lucky fan at Yoder Arena won a free bag of Shirley’s popcorn, and the second quarter was underway. RMC jumped out to a lead, but senior guard Lexi Deffenbaugh brought EMU back to within one at 28-27. Delawder tied the game at 30-30 with another bucket from downtown. A few plays later, Delawder laid a ruthless block on an RMC layup attempt.
The Royals fell into a scoring drought as RMC jumped out to a 12-point lead before the teams entered halftime at 46-36.
EMU couldn’t mirror their first half energy and lost their composure in the second half. The drought continued as RMC quickly jumped to a 20-point lead, which would soon become 30 points. EMU fought for 20 total points in the second half as RMC coasted to an 89-56 win.
Junior guard Chloe Roach led the Royals with 12 points. The team went 4-14 (28.6%) from 3-point range and 6-15 (40%) from the free throw line. They turned the ball over 14 times by the final whistle. The defense held RMC’s Williams to 12 points.
“The first half we played together as a team really well and the intensity was up,” Delawder said after the game. “But then in the second half we didn’t have as much energy and it just kinda went down from there.”
With a 2-13 record and nine games left on the schedule, Delawder says she is looking to get better in practice every day and to translate those improvements onto the court in EMU’s last nine games.
EMU senior Christian Newborn said he was impressed by first-years Anya Kauffman and Tiffany Carey. The team “is just lacking a lot of size right now,” he said. Looking forward to the future of the team, Newborn hopes Coach Posey “can encourage some more power forwards to come join the program.”
Also a manager for the EMU basketball men’s team, Newborn said he thinks the women could take advantage of their speed on the court by trying full-court press on defense.
“They gotta continue to believe in their small ball play,” he said. “I think they should try out more full-court press because they have to deal with the fact that they’re gonna lose a lot of rebounding, like offensive boards and second chances. So trying to get more stops on defense and using their speediness to their advantage would help them out.”
EMU’s basketball women will host Washington and Lee in Yoder Arena at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.
