SU roundup: Hornets foil Squirrels

Daily Staff Reports - sports@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Shenandoah University won its third straight women's basketball game with a 62-46 USA South Conference victory over Mary Baldwin Tuesday evening.

Shenandoah (8-11, 5-7 USA South) led virtually throughout the contest, but could never quite put MBC (4-12, 2-10) away.

Playing without leading scorer Sabrina Desper, the Squirrels took advantage of a poor shooting night by SU (9 of 27 in the first half) and 22 turnovers to stay within five points for the majority of the second half.

Fortunately for the home fans, Shenandoah turned a 47-41 lead with 4:51 to play into the 16-point win by outscoring Mary Baldwin 15-5 over the final 4:13.

SU missed just one shot from the field during this final run and sophomore Sara D'Amico had two of her game-high six 3-pointers as the Hornets pulled away down the stretch.

D'Amico set a herself a new career-high in points with 22 as she was 6 of 9 from the field (6 for 6 from behind the arc) and made 4 of 6 from the line.

D'Amico's 22 points in a reserve role helped Shenandoah to a 43-2 advantage in bench scoring Tuesday evening.

Junior Nicole Gilbertson backed up D'Amico with 14 points while senior Mandy Johnston added 10 points to go along with a co-game-high nine rebounds.

The Squirrels, who played just seven players, had 17 points from Shanice Miles and 12 from Meagan Barron.

The victory is the 11th straight for SU over its soon-to-be former conference rival.

Shenandoah is back in action on Saturday at Methodist in a 2:00 USA South Conference contest.

Ferrum 77, Shenandoah 63

FERRUM -- Host Ferrum College completed a season sweep over the SU men's basketball team with a 77-63 USA South Conference win Tuesday evening.

The Panthers (12-8, 5-3 USA South) shot 54 percent from the field in finishing off their fourth straight victory over Shenandoah (4-17, 2-6).

The two teams traded the lead three times and were tied on three more occasions in the opening 10 minutes before Marcus Mayo gave the hosts the lead for good with his 3-pointer at the 9:53 mark.

SU was able to trade buckets with Ferrum for the next six minutes before the Panthers finished off the first half on a 15-5 run.

This spurt, part of a larger run that lasted 3:35 into the second half, gave Ferrum a 47-34 lead with 16:25 to play.

Ferrum kept its lead in double digits for the remainder of the contest, eventually extending the advantage to 18 points in the final minute before coasting home to the 14-point win.

Sophomore Avery Green paced the Hornets with 15 points, all but one of which was scored in the second half, while Ross Heyl added 12.

Daryl Hart had 20, Lamont King 19 and Mayo 14 for the victors.

Shenandoah returns to the court on Saturday at Methodist in a 4 p.m. USA South Conference contest.