HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The ODAC's top ranked women's basketball team lived up to its billing this afternoon, topping Randolph in a matinee. 78-63.

Randolph didn't go without a fight, however, battling throughout the contest with top ranked Eastern Mennonite.

The WildCats received an early boost from sophomore Jacqueline Hockman, who scored the first five Randolph points, as the team got out to an early lead.

A 7-0 Randolph run came shortly thereafter, with first-year Taylor Samuels hitting a three and senior post players Jensen Hoover and Allie Druffel converting from the field.

After EMU retook the lead, Druffel hit another jumper to level the score at 25-25 in the high-scoring affair early, while Samuels nailed a three to level it at 33-33 with a couple minutes to go.

Behind a three from junior Abigail Bullins, the WildCats looked to head into the locker room with momentum down by just one, but a buzzer-beater off of an offensive rebound sent the Royals into halftime up 39-36.

EMU capitalized on that momentum, starting the second half off hot, taking control of the contest behind a 13-0 spurt after an exchange of baskets early.

A 6-0 Randolph run got the team back in the battle, but EMU held off the challenge and closed strongly to seal the win.

Samuels posted a career-best 18 points on the day, including converting on 4-of-5 triples.

With the loss, Randolph will need to do a little more work to get into position to host a first round ODAC tournament game.

The WildCats will next be in action on Tuesday night, hosting Lynchburg at the RAD Center.

This will be the second matchup this year between the teams, as the Hornets took the first end of the home-and-home series on Jan 13.

In that game, senior Chelsea Tyler finished 11-of-12 from the free throw line line, marking the best free throw percentage (91.7%) of any player in program history with more than 10 attempts.