LYNCHBURG, VA — The Randolph College women's basketball team battled back from a second-half deficit to win its first home contest in 33 contests with a 59-57 non-conference victory over Peace College Sunday from the Randolph Athletics and Dance (RAD) Center.

The home victory was the first for second-year head coach Allison Nichols, and the WildCats' first since a 68-63 win over Hollins University January 23, 2010. The WildCats (2-2) earned the victory thanks to the play of first-year center Megan Russell (Pinnacle, NC/West Stokes).

Russell finished with a game-best 24 points on eight-of-19 shooting; picking up 12 rebounds as well. The 24 points was the most in a contest for a WildCat since Lindsay Cross scored 26 points against Emory & Henry College December 5, 2009 and the most in a victory since Cross netted 26 against N.C. Wesleyan College over two years ago.

The two teams exchanged leads five times throughout the game, including four times in the second half, while the game was tied nine times. Peace (0-4) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but Randolph came back to tie the game at 13 on a jumper by Brianna Lowry (Herndon, VA/Herndon).

The WildCat put together an 11-0 run to take the game's biggest lead at 20-13 after a trifecta from senior guard Lauren French (Blairs, VA/Chatham). The lead would stick at seven points until the Pacers finished the first half on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 30 going into halftime.

Peace would forge ahead and earn its biggest advantage of the afternoon at four after a free throw from Krystal Williams. Randolph inched back to tie the game three times before finally retaking the lead at 49-46 on another triple from French. Following a three-pointer from first-year Bonnie Bishop (Fairfax, VA/Trinity Christian) with four minutes to go, Peace cut the lead to one with 3:11 left.

Bishop answered with a jumper to push the WildCat advantage back up to three, but Callie Yohn came right back with a lay-up for Peace to pull to within one again. With Randolph up two with seven seconds left, Peace went to the line for a pair but could only convert one of two. After a Lowry free throw made it a two-point lead again, and following a timeout, Rachel Lyons could not get a shot off before the buzzer, giving Randolph the hard fought victory.

Lowry finished as the only other WildCat in double-figures Sunday afternoon, scoring right her average with 13 points. French posted eight points and five rebounds, while Bishop duplicated her senior counterpart's stat line with eight points and five caroms. First-year Chelsea Tyler (Richmond, VA/Hernrico) struggled from the first, but had five rebounds and four steals for Randolph.

The WildCats finished 33.9 percent (20-59) from the floor, also connecting on 15-of-24 from the free throw line. Another big factor was the rebounding discrepancy, as Randolph earned a 53-34 edge in that department.

Peace was led by Crystal Alston and her 14 points, while Derrica Jones had 13 points, seven boards and three steals. The Pacer's free throw shooting let them down Sunday, as they made only 11-of-24 from the line. The victory for Randolph was it's first-ever over Peace College in fourth meeting between the two teams.

Randolph travels to Roanoke, VA to take on Hollins University Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. in more Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action.

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