Nov. 22, 2016
NASHVILLE — It hasn’t taken long for first-year head coach Stephanie White and the five freshmen on her roster to catch on to the concept of Memorial Magic.
With a 75-59 victory over Robert Morris on Tuesday, the Commodores (4-1) grabbed their third home victory in the span off six days — a stretch that also included wins over Duke and Drexel — and improved to 4-0 at home overall.
The game, which was the first-ever meeting between Vanderbilt and Robert Morris (3-2), tipped off at 11:30 a.m. as the Commodores held their annual Education Day contest. A large collection of local schools attended the game.
Rachel Bell scored a game-high 20 points for Vanderbilt, and freshman Kayla Overbeck added 15 points, finishing 7-of-8 from the floor. Rebekah Dahlman had 11 points and Marqu’es Webb pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Vanderbilt has now won 13 consecutive non-conference games at Memorial Gym, and has posted a 49-3 record against non-con foes since the start of the 2010-11 campaign. Dating back to the start of the 2002-03 season, VU owns a 99-8 record on its home floor in regular-season, non-conference games, including an 18-1 mark since the start of the 2014-15 season.
Tuesday’s win was methodical in nature, with the Commodores building a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter and then gradually extending the lead from there. Vanderbilt led 38-26 at the half and built it’s largest lead of the game, 51-33, near the midway mark of the third quarter. Vanderbilt maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Commodores shot the ball effectively, especially from long range and at the foul line. They finished 12-of-14 from the foul line (85.7 percent) and were 9-of-21 behind the arc (42.9 percent). Vanderbilt shot 48 percent from the floor overall.
Robert Morris senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou, the No. 5 all-time scorer in the Colonials’ history, finished with a team-high 18 points. Stamolamprou, who came into the game averaging 15 points per contest, was 8-of-16 from the floor.
Vanderbilt will now have a few days off for the Thanksgiving holidays before facing UT Martin on the road on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
NOTE: With her eight rebounds on Tuesday, Marqu’es Webb now has 494 for her career.
