LEXINGTON, Ky. --- The Shenandoah University women's basketball team saw the most successful season in its history come to an end Friday afternoon with a 67-48 loss to Southern Virginia in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Division III Tournament.

Playing at the Clive M. Beck Center on the Transylvania University campus, Shenandoah (22-6) saw Southern Virginia (25-4) hit eight 3-pointers on its way to the 19-point victory.

IN DEPTH
The Knights took control of the contest by outscoring SU by a combined 15 points in the second and third quarters.

Leading by just three, 13-10, heading into the second, SVU took a 29-20 lead into the halftime locker room on the strength of 3-of-5 shooting (60 percent) from behind the arc in the second stanza.

Southern Virginia then extended its lead in the third by shooting 50 percent (9-of-18) from field and adding another two 3-pointers.

Over the same span, the Hornets were just 8-of-29 from the field (28 percent) while scoring 10 points in the second and 11 in the third.

The two teams split 34 fourth quarter points to allow the Knights to coast home to the victory in its first-ever NCAA Tournament contest.

Sierra St. Cyr, the 2022 ODAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, paced Coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft's club with 13 points. Classmates Ragan Johnson and Olivia Weinel both had 10 points.

Shenandoah shot 33 percent (20-of-60) from the field to 40 percent (27-of-68) for the Knights. SVU also had a 45-37 edge on the glass.

Those three women, along with Diandra Mundle, Brooke Riley, and Sarah Sondrol, make up the most successful graduating class in program history. The six women had a combined 58 wins in the past four years and won ODAC championships in 2019 and 2022.

BY THE NUMBERS
58: The total number of victories for the Class of 2022
22: The most wins in SU program history
4: The number of NCAA Tournament appearances in program history
2: The number of ODAC championships

UP NEXT
The loss ends the Hornets season. Shenandoah will announce its 2022-23 schedule later this spring.

--- This release is courtesy of the Shenandoah University athletic communications department. ---
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