Left, Efosa Edosomwan of Roanoke College goes to the hoop for two of his game high 22 points in Tuesday’s ODAC semifinal loss to Randolph-Macon. Right, Whitney Hopson of RC scores against Shenandoah in Friday’s semifinal win at the Cregger Center. RC men fall, women win in ODAC semifinals in Salem Women will play the University of Lynchburg for conference championship. PHOTOS BY BRIAN HOFFMAN
Roanoke College hosted an Old Dominion Athletic Conference basketball tournament semifinal doubleheader Tuesday night in Salem and came away with mixed results. The RC men opened with a 77-71 loss to Randolph-Macon before the women took a win over Ferrum College, 88-58.
The Maroon men were the top seed in the tournament but only because Randolph-Macon, the fifth seed, didn’t play enough ODAC regular season games to qualify for the top four. So, the nation’s top-ranked Division III team was given the fifth seed and when RC beat Emory & Henry Friday night and Macon beat Bridgewater it set up a battle of once beat Roanoke against undefeated Randy-Mac in a dream matchup Tuesday.
The Maroons hung tough. After falling behind by as many as 10 in the first half they closed the lead to six at the half, then tied it up at 47-47 with 12 minutes to go in the game.
At that point the Yellowjackets went on a 6-0 run to gain a lead they would not relinquish. Macon went up by as many as 13 before RC cut the lead to six, but that’s as close as they’d get in a 77-71 final.
Efosa Edosomwan led all scorers with 22 points, including 11 for 11 from the foul line. Kasey Draper had 19 and Tripp Greene and Trent Dawson had 11 for the Maroons.
The RC men finished the season with a 10-2 record and were 15th ranked in the nation coming into the week. Randolph-Macon advances to the ODAC final with a 10-0 record. The Yellowjackets will play the University of Lynchburg on the road tonight for the championship.
In Tuesday’s second game the Maroon women advanced to their tournament final by pounding Ferrum, 88-58, at the Cregger Center. Roanoke outscored the Panthers 32-6 in the second quarter to open a 48-16 lead by the half.
A dozen different women scored for the Maroons, led by Renee Alquiza with 13. Kristina Harrell had a dozen points and both Whitney Hopson and JaBryah Haverkamp had 11. Morgan Micallef had eight rebounds.
Now 10-2, the fourth seeded Maroons will play at second seeded Lynchburg in a game that was tentatively scheduled for Thursday.