Region roundup: Randolph women snap ODAC losing streak

Randolph College women’s basketball coach Allison Nichols picked up her first ODAC win Saturday as she directed the WildCats past Emory & Henry, 61-59, in a game that came down to the wire.

The contest saw 10 ties and eight lead changes. With 2:09 to play and the Wasps leading by one, RC’s Chelsea Tyler found Jensen Hoover for a layup to put the Hornets up by one, 54-53. Emory & Henry tied the game at 55 on a layup by Carlyta Hamm with 1:30 left.

Two free throws from senior Lauren French (Chatham) gave Randolph another two-point edge, but this time Kristie Langley responded with two of her game-high 22 points to knot the game at 57. With less than 30 seconds to go, first-year guard Bri Lowry hit a tough runner in the lane to put the WildCats up 59-57.

After the Wasps made one of two and Tyler matched the effort for Randolph, the Wasps came out of a timeout and picked up a foul call with two seconds to play. Faith Walker made the first free throw to pull to within one, 60-59, but missed the second. Tyler was fouled after grabbing the rebound, and made one of two to put the WildCats up two. A last-second heave by E&H was after the buzzer, giving Randolph its first conference win in 43 tries.

Tyler finished with a team-high 14 points and five steals. Bonnie Bishop had 10 points and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.

Guilford 64, Lynchburg 56

The Hornets were down by as many as 12 with 2:25 left before narrowing the gap to six, but the Quakers held the lead for the victory, spoiling LC’s Senior Day.

Freshman Shannon Allan continued her stellar rookie season with another double-digit outing. She led all players with 22 points along with grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots. Allan went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line.

Senior Carly Greenlief scored 12 points and tallied six rebounds while sophomore Caleigh Patterson added nine points and 10 rebounds.

Lynchburg (8-15, 7-11) hosts Roanoke College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Baseball

Lynchburg 8, Averett 6

Lynchburg College scored eight unanswered runs to come from behind and beat Averett in their season-opener Saturday in Danville.

Averett (0-1) jumped on Lynchburg starter James Womack early, scoring three runs in the first inning. James Fiorella and Jason Carter each had RBI singles in the third inning to give Averett a 6-0 lead and ending Womack’s day.

As Womack’s replacement, Robert Garrett, quieted the Averett bats, Lynchburg (1-0) got on the scoreboard. An Averett error helped Lynchburg plate two runs on Brock Shifflett’s double in the fifth inning. The Hornets closed the gap with two more runs in the seventh inning on Ashton’s Paige’s two-run double.

Two Averett errors helped Lynchburg tie the game in the top of the eighth inning and set up Shifflett’s go-ahead two-run double with two outs. The Cougars got a runner to third base in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t get him in. Garrett shut down the Cougars in the ninth to seal the victory for Lynchburg.

The fast-working Garrett (1-0) allowed just two hits and no runs in 6 1/3 innings of work.