SU men fall to Averett

Daily Staff Reports - sports@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Visiting Averett University used a dominant rebounding edge to down Shenandoah University 87-64 in USA South Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars (7-12, 2-5 USA South) salvaged a split of the season series by downing the Hornets (4-16, 2-5).

AU dominated on the glass, pulling down 47 rebounds to Shenandoah's 23, and outscored the Hornets 27-7 on second chance points.

Junior Marquis Scott did most of the damage - he had 38 points and 16 rebounds in the victory with 13 of his boards coming on the offensive end.

Scott's offensive output ties him for the second-best performance in school history.

The two teams traded the lead six times and were tied on six other occasions, but Averett held the lead for the final 13:04 of the contest.

Taking a 50-48 advantage on a Sunil Ram 3-pointer, AU reeled off 14 of the game's next 18 points to lead 64-52 with 9:03 remaining.

Shenandoah would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Trailing by that 10-point margin, SU saw its visitors pull away with a 13-3 run over a span of 4:20 that gave Averett a 20-point lead with 1:40 showing.

Both coaches then emptied their benches and the visitors scored the final three points of the game to provide the final margin.

Ram and Jeremy Ruffin each had 14 to back up Scott's 38.

Freshman Ross Heyl paced the hosts with 19 points. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 5 for 8 from behind the arc.

Avery Green had 16 points in 28 minutes.

Shenandoah is on the road on Tuesday in a 7:00 USA South Conference contest at Ferrum.

Women's basketball
Shenandoah 59, Averett 48
WINCHESTER -- The Shenandoah University women's basketball team earned its second straight victory Saturday afternoon with a 59-48 USA South Conference win over Averett.

The triumph is the 11th straight for Shenandoah (7-11, 4-7 USA South) over AU (10-8, 6-5) in Winchester.

With today's game being the final league matchup between the two schools, the Hornets complete the long-time USA South series with a 28-14 advantage.

After the two teams traded the lead seven times and were tied on two other occasions in the opening nine minutes of the game, Shenandoah took control with a 10-0 run from the 10:06 to 6:29 marks of the first.

Sam Akers gave SU the lead for good with a three-point play off of a fastbreak at 8:16 and Averett went cold from the field.

The Cougars, who shot 24 percent (13 for 55) in the contest, went from the 10:45 mark of the first to the 16:45 mark of the second without scoring a field goal.

Shenandoah trailed by three points when this drought started and had a 12-point lead when Liz Martin finally snapped it with a three-point play.

The Hornets remained in control of the contest, however, never allowing their lead to slip below nine points the rest of the way.

Junior Nicole Gilbertson paced the victors with 15 points while freshman Holly Chittenden added 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Akers completed the SU players in double-figures with 12 points.

Martin had game-highs in points, 17, and rebounds, 12, for Averett.

Shenandoah had a 43-39 advantage on the glass and posted 28 points in the paint to the Cougars 20.

The Hornets also scored all 19 points registered by bench players in the contest.

Shenandoah hosts Mary Baldwin on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. USA South Conference contest.