College Women’s Basketball Final – Eastern Mennonite 55, Guilford 42

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Eastern Mennonite’s Shakeerah Sykes and Jess Rheinheimer each posted a double-double as Guilford College fell to Eastern Mennonite, 55-42, in a Wednesday evening Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) contest.

The Royals opened the contest with a 21-4 run in the first 9:51 and extended their largest lead in the first half to 18 points twice before halftime. The Quakers (7-5, 1-2 ODAC) chipped away at the Royal lead in the first 6:57 of the second half when a Heaven Walters (Yadkinville, N.C./Starmount) free-throw began a 10-0 run that spanned the next 6:08 of the period. An Eastern Mennonite 6-0 run in a 4:23 span late in the second frame brought the Royal lead back to double-digits. Free-throws in the final minute extended the Eastern Mennonite lead to 13 to secure the game.

The Quakers opened the first half, shooting 24.2 percent from the field and finished the contest at 26.6 percent, including 2-of-15 from three-point range. Eastern Mennonite shot 41.4 percent in the first frame, but cooled off from the field in the second half, shooting 28.6 percent to finish the contest shooting 35.1 percent, including 4-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Anais Weatherly (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) notched her fifth double-double of the season (17 points, 12 rebounds) to lead Guilford in scoring and rebounds. Brittany Drew (Greensboro, N.C./Page) added eight points and five rebounds.

Sykes (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Rheinheimer (13 points, 11 rebounds) led Eastern Mennonite while Maria Zumfelde scored 12 points off the bench.

The Quakers out-rebounded the Royals, 49-39, amassing 21 offensive boards that created 12 second-chance points. The Royals 12 offensive rebounds produced 14 second-chance points.

The Quakers return to action Saturday, traveling to Shenandoah University for a 2 p.m. ODAC contest.