Salem, Va. -- Every time their opponents put the game in question, the Hornets had the answer.

The sixth-seeded University of Lynchburg's women's basketball team kept its hope of an Old Dominion Athletic Conference title defense alive Friday evening with a 63-58 upset of No. 3-seeded Roanoke in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.

Lizzie Davis led the way for the Hornets with a team-high 24 points, Kate Kolb grabbed a team-best 15 rebounds, and Olivia Harris chipped in 10 points off the bench for Lynchburg.

The Hornets fell behind in the early going by a 9-4 score before Lynchburg finished the quarter on a 7-0 run for their first lead of the game. The two teams traded the lead back and forth in the second and headed into halftime tied, 26-26. Davis had half the Hornets' points in the first two period.

Brooke Vetter got the Hornets out hot in the third, firing a jumper and a 3-pointer in Lynchburg's first two possessions of the second half. Lynchburg never trailed again. Davis' layup with 2:04 left in the third gave the Hornets a 41-34 advantage, and the teams' defenses held serve through the remainder of the period.

A Harris 3-pointer put Lynchburg ahead by 10 early in the fourth, but Roanoke made another run. The Maroons cut the lead to five with 6:54 left to play and kept things interesting through the end. 

Ayanna Scarborough's basket with 1:28 remaining cut the Lynchburg lead to two, but the Hornets made six of eight free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

The win avenged two regular-season victories for the Maroons in 2021-22 and put the Hornets into the ODAC semifinals for the seventh time in the past 10 seasons.

Lynchburg will move on to play No. 2-seeded Randolph-Macon in Saturday's 8 p.m. semifinal game. Lynchburg athletics is offering free tickets to all alumni, students, faculty, and staff if they fill out this Google Form prior to noon Saturday. Students, faculty, and staff should be prepared to show University ID at the gate to collect their free tickets.

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--LYN--