After a less than spectacular first 20 minutes of play against Washington & Lee, Randolph-Macon’s Molly Ariail came out of the Crenshaw Gym locker room with a vengeance on Sunday afternoon.

  After a one-for-six shooting performance in the first half, Ariail (22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 steals, 1 assist) went 8-for-10, scoring 18 second half points to go along with three steals, three blocks and four rebounds in R-MC’s (5-2, 3-1 ODAC) 70-50 win over the Generals (2-5, 1-2).

  After falling to Christopher Newport last Wednesday, the No. 24 ranked Yellow Jackets needed the ODAC win to stay in the conference race.

  “Coming off the loss to CNU we needed to prove to everybody that we are Randolph-Macon basketball and this just showed it,” said guard Maggie Roy.

  “This is a big ODAC win,” said head coach Carol LaHaye. “We’ve always struggled against Washington & Lee in the past and I thought we jumped out on them early and never looked back.”

  Playing in only their second game in a month and their first at home since November 24, the Yellow Jackets started the contest looking like a team that had spent a lot of time away from competition.

  Roy said it takes some time for the team to get back in the flow of things after the long break. “It’s hard but when we come back the coaches really pushed us,” she said.

  R-MC missed its first eight shots of the game and committed six turnovers in the first five minutes of play.

  Now in her fourth year at Randolph-Macon, Ariail said it is still hard to adjust to the long break in action. “You know, I don’t think you do,” she said. “You can work out all you want at home but it’s not coming in here playing full court basketball.”

  “I think we were so pumped up to get this game going and back in Crenshaw Court; we hadn’t been here since November 24, so it was great to be back, but I think we had just a little (too) much adrenaline going through them,” LaHaye said.

  Junior Jennifer O’Briant (13 points, 5 assists) finally found the basket for the Jackets with 15:49 to play in the first on a three from the right baseline.
  However, as woeful as the Jackets’ offense was, Washington & Lee was even worse, committing six turnovers in the first four and half minutes and they did not even manage to get a shot off until the 16:49 mark.

  With 15:11 left in the first, the Generals finally hit pay dirt when Meg Ingram connected on a three from the top of the key, but nearly five more minutes passed before they hit their second.

  In the meantime R-MC ran ahead 14-5 on the strength of their passing. The Jackets first six baskets of the game all came off assists.

  O’Briant and Roy (17 points) kept the Jackets going throughout the first half in which each scored 10 points.

  “In practice coach gives the guards the green light to shoot the ball when they’re open so when I see a team’s in a zone I take that to heart and I just shot as much as I could,” Roy said. The sophomore guard out of Mills Godwin High School, was 3-of-7 from three point range in the contest.

  Leading 31-21 coming out after the break, the Jackets started to pull away.

  After the Generals trimmed the lead to eight on a pair of free throws from Felice Herman, R-MC went on a 9-0 run.

  O’Briant broke the press and dished off to Renee Stien for a score in the paint then Ariail got her game going on an astounding play.

  When Roy’s shot bounced off the rim, Ariail found herself wrapped up by a Generals defender, so she adapted. Ariail pulled down a one-handed rebound and put the ball back in the basket all while having her left arm held.

  “The girl had my other arm so I figured, well one-handed, might as well,” Ariail said.

  Ariail scored 18 of the Jackets next 28 points allowing R-MC to pull out to a 61-36 lead with 8:17 to play and her team cruised to the win.

  “I usually like to take the leadership role but it just happened that I had the advantage inside so I kind of got to lead by example too,” Ariail said.

  “I just did what I know I can do,” Ariail added. “I think I got away from my typical game in the first half so in the second half I refocused and my team got me the ball.”

  “We have a very good post player and we need to utilize that and sometimes we forget because we are a fairly balanced team,” LaHaye said. “We talked at halftime about making sure our post was touching the basketball.”

  Ariail was one rebound shy of recording her sixth consecutive double-double.

  After the long layoff, R-MC’s schedule comes into full swing this week. Following their game at Randolph on Tuesday night, the Jackets host league-leader Roanoke on Friday at 7 p.m. then host Hollins on Saturday at 2 p.m.

  “This week is going to be very tough,” LaHaye said.

  “It’s going to be hard but we can do it,” Roy said.

R-MC 70, WASH. & LEE 50
WASHINGTON & LEE (2-5 / 1-2 ODAC- BOLTON, Becca 4-9 4-4 12; WARRICK, Rachel 4-10 3-4 11; WILSON, Katy 2-4 6-9 10; INGRAM, Meg 3-7 0-1 8; PFANNENSTEIN, Kari 1-5 3-3 5; HERMAN, Felice 1-5 2-2 4; KAMP, Kaitlyn 0-1 0-0 0; LONG, Allie 0-2 0-0 0; VINES, Caroline 0-0 0-0 0; SUBLETT, Allison 0-0 0-0 0; MARKS, Megan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-43 18-23 50.
RANDOLPH-MACON (5-2 / 3-1 ODAC)- ARIAIL, Molly 9-16 4-4 22; ROY, Maggie 6-15 2-2 17; O’BRIANT, Jennifer 5-8 1-2 13; DULANEY, Madison 1-2 2-2 4; BROWN, Molly 2-6 0-0 4; WIECZOREK, Taylor 1-5 1-2 3; ASAY, Jillian 1-1 1-2 3; STEIN, Renee 1-4 0-0 2; WILLIAMS, Katie 1-6 0-0 2; GRUNE, Stephanie 0-0 0-0 0; JONES, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0; CANTRELL, Jordan 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 11-14 70.
Washington & Lee….  21   29 -  50
Randolph-Macon…..  31   39 -  70
3-point goals—Washington & Lee 2-11 (INGRAM, Meg 2-5; WARRICK, Rachel 0-1; PFANNENSTEIN, Kari 0-3; LONG, Allie 0-2), Randolph-Macon 5-17 (ROY, Maggie 3-7; O’BRIANT, Jennifer 2-5; WILLIAMS, Katie 0-2; CANTRELL, Jordan 0-3). Fouled out—Washington & Lee-None, Randolph-Macon-None. Rebounds—Washington & Lee 30 (BOLTON, Becca 7), Randolph-Macon 43 (ARIAIL, Molly 9). Assists—Washington & Lee 4 (PFANNENSTEIN, Kari 2), Randolph-Macon 17 (O’BRIANT, Jennifer 5). Total fouls—Washington & Lee 14, Randolph-Macon 20. Technical fouls—Washington & Lee-None, Randolph-Macon-None. A-441