LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior forward Shakeerah Sykes (Dumfries, Va. / Forest Park) scored a game-high 20 points to lead 24th-ranked Eastern Mennonite to a 71-59 victory over Washington and Lee in ODAC women's basketball action on Tuesday evening at the Warner Center.

EMU (16-3, 10-1) led by one point (19-18) with 8:23 left in the first, but a layup by senior guard Alisa Brown (Dumfries, Va. / Forest Park) with 7:48 on the clock sparked a 10-3 Royals' run to stretch the lead to 29-21 with 4:53 left in the half. The Generals (14-5, 7-4) hit three of their final seven shots of the half, but only trimmed the EMU lead to 34-28 at the break.

The Royals scored 18 of the first 29 points in the second half to push the advantage to 54-39 at the 10:29 mark. W&L chipped away at EMU's advantage, cutting it to eight points (62-54) on a layup by sophomore guard Jackie Clifford (Tenafly, N.J. / Tenafly) with 2:59 to play. The Royals responded with a 9-0 spurt to take a 71-54 lead with less than a minute left before reaching the final margin of 71-59. 

Clifford posted 18 points and six rebounds for the Generals. Junior forward Shelbi Hendricks (Louisville, Ky. / Kentucky Country Day) grabbed a game-high 13 boards, while junior guard Paige Corvino (Clarendon Hills, Ill. / Fenwick) tallied nine points and five steals.

Sykes recorded a double-double with her 20 points along with 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Jess Rheinheimer (Manheim, Pa. / Lancaster Mennonite) finished with 14 points and six boards, while Brown chipped in 10 points and three steals.

The Royals out-shot the Generals, 48.3 percent (28-58) to 39.7 percent (23-58) from the field.

Washington and Lee returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Lynchburg for a 2:00 pm contest.

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