EMU Women’s Basketball Receives Votes

Royals Receive Eight Votes in Latest Division III Poll

Salem, Va. – The Royals of Eastern Mennonite University have received votes for the second straight week in the d3hoops.com NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Poll.  EMU received eight votes from the panel, placing them at #37 in the nation.  

            Under first year head coach Richard McElwee, the Royals have posted a 14-1 mark overall and a 10-1 record in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).  The 14-1 start marks the best start in school history.  The 1984-85 Royals started 13-1 and went on to win their only ODAC championship, defeating Roanoke in the title game, 75-71.

            Individually, EMU has four sophomores averaging in double-figures.  The Royals have been led by Carrie Grandstaff (Luray, Va./Mt. Carmel Christian) with 18.3 points per game.  Her scoring average ranks her second in the league.  Classmate Laura Ludholtz (Mount Crawford, Va./Fort Defiance) ranks second on the team in scoring with 15.4 points per night while Stephanie Mathews (Woodstock, Va./Central) and Amanda Renalds (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) average 12.9 and 12.2 points, respectively. 

Mathews and Ludholtz also rank in the top 10 in the conference in rebounding with Mathews at #4 with 9.3 caroms per game and Ludholtz at #6 with 7.6 boards per outing.  Renalds is ranked second in the ODAC in field goal percentage making good on over 51% of her shots from the floor.  Grandstaff is right behind, ranking fourth in the league with a 48.1% shooting average.  Junior guard Shantee Bryant (Verona, Va./Robert E. Lee) dishes out 5.27 assists per game, good enough for second in the conference.  However, with just 29 turnovers on the season, she leads the ODAC in assist-to-turnover ratio with a 2.72.

As a team, the Royals are out-scoring their opponents by nearly 11 points per contest.  They are also shooting a league-best 43.6% from the floor while holding opponents to a conference-best 33.4% shooting average.

The complete national poll is as follows:

D3hoops.com Division III Poll

1.  Bowdoin

2.  Southern Maine

3.  Trinity (Texas)

4.  Rochester

5.  Scranton

6.  St. Benedict

7.  Eastern Connecticut

8.  UW-Stevens Point

9.  Washington

10.  Carleton

11.  St. John Fisher

12.  Marymount

13.  Messiah

14.  UW-Eau Claire

15.  Johns Hopkins

16.  Lebanon Valley

17.  UW-Oshkosh

18.  Pacific Lutheran

19.  Hardin-Simmons

20.  Baldwin-Wallace

21.  DeSales

22.  Hope

23.  Millikin

24.  McDaniel

25.  DePauw

Others Receiving Votes:  NYU – 78, Capital – 58, Wesleyan – 46, Howard Payne – 27, Ithaca – 25, Gustavus Adolphus – 23, Calvin – 17, UW-Stout – 17, Union – 15, Brandeis – 9, Thomas More – 9, Eastern Mennonite – 8 , Wilmington – 7, Catholic – 6, Gwynedd-Mercy – 4, Mississippi College – 4, Williams – 4, Buena Vista – 2, Puget Sound – 2, King’s 1.