LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph women's basketball team hosted Eastern Mennonite on Friday evening at Giles Gymnasium. The Royals had the upper hand on the WildCats on the night as they came away with a 59-48 victory.

Randolph falls to 9-4 overall and 3-4 in ODAC play. The Royals improve to 7-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play.

EMU led 8-5 in the first half. Randolph scored two baskets in a row to go up 9-8. The Royals grabbed the lead back on a layup by Jayla Gray and were ahead 10-9.

In the second quarter, the Royals used a 17-2 to start the period to go ahead 27-13 with 1:41 remaining. A three by Cameron O'Neil (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) cut the EMU lead to 11 points, 27-16, at halftime.

In the third quarter, Eastern Mennonite still had a double-digit lead early but the WIldCats started to chip away at their deficit. A 12-4 run by Randolph brough the WildCats to within four points, 38-34, with 2:06 showing on the game clock. The Royals upped their advantage to eight points at the end of the quarter.

The 'Cats closed to within four points twice early in the fourth quarter. It was still a two-possession game, 50-46, with just over two minutes remaining to play. Eastern Mennonite used a 9-2 run in the final 1:52 to pull away from the WildCats.

"Disappointing showing by us tonight and I'll take full responsibility for that," said head coach Steve Lanpher after the game. "We didn't come with the right focus and effort in the first half. I thought we didn't quit and got to within five points a couple of times but one half of basketball doesn't win you a game. We got beat on the boards and I thought we got outworked overall."

Overall, Randolph was 18-of-57 (31.6%) from the floor and just 4-of-27 (14.8%) in three-point attempts. The WildCats did go 8-of-9 (88.9%) from free throw line. EMU was 19-of-55 (34.5%) and 4-of-22 (18.2%) from behind the three-point arc. The Royals had a slight edge in rebounds 41-38.

Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. She dished out four assists and came away with two steals. O'Neil added nine points and five rebounds. Jessica Jennings (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) put up seven points, four rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots, and two steals. Abbie Baker (Salem, Va./Patrick Henry) and Brooklyn Finnerty (Lynchburg, Va./Timberlake) both came down with seven rebounds each with Baker also blocking two shots.

"We'll need to let this disappointment fuel our focus and hopefully allow us to regroup and respond with better execution and effort," said Lanpher.

Randolph travels to Randolph-Macon on Wednesday. Game time from Ashland is at 7:00 p.m.