Women's Basketball | 12/2/2012 4:39:00 PM

Box Score DANVILLE, Va. -- Christina Schrader poured in a career-high 23 points and the Methodist women's basketball team turned in a dominant second half in defeating Averett, 84-61, on Sunday afternoon at the Grant Center.
 
Methodist improved to 5-2 (2-0 USA South) with the win, its fifth in a row, while the Cougars fell to 1-4 (0-2). The five-game win streak is the longest streak for the Monarchs since they won five in a row from Nov. 24-Dec. 5 of 2009.
 
After heading into the locker room up just three, 40-37, at the break, Methodist turned up the defensive intensity in the opening minutes of the second period. MU forced turnovers on each of the Cougars' first six possessions in scoring the first eight points of the half to go up 11 points (48-37) with 15:56 to play.
 
Methodist's lead stood at 10 points, 50-40, with 13:18 left to play before the Monarchs put the game away with a decisive 13-2 scoring run over the 3:19 to assume a 21-point lead (63-42) with 9:59 remaining. T.T. Taylor started the run with a pair of free throws and Schrader led the charge with seven points during the run. Averett managed to trim its deficit below the 20-point threshold on two occasions, but never threatened the remainder of the game.
 
The Monarchs held Averett to just 27.3 percent shooting (9-33) in the second half, while shooting 51.6 percent (16-31) themselves.
 
The lopsided second half came after an evenly played first period that saw four ties and three lead changes. The Monarchs raced out to an early eight-point advantage (21-13)  by the 11:51 mark but were unable to pull away. Still up eight (27-19), this time with 8:18 on the clock, the Cougars used a 14-4 scoring burst, aided by a 10-for-10 effort from the charity stripe, to assume a 33-31 lead with 4:30 left in the first half. Mette Scheiman made good on all eight of her free-throw attempts during the run.
 
Six free throws in the final minute by Courtney Woods helped the Monarchs turn a late two-point deficit into the three-point lead at halftime.
 
For the game, Methodist shot an efficient 27-of-56 from the floor (.482), and knocked down 28-of-34 (.824) attempts from the free-throw line. The Monarchs also outrebounded Averett, 40-34, and forced the Cougars into 26 turnovers. Averett finished the contest at 34.6 percent shooting (18-52) from the field and an even 70.0 percent (21-30) from the line.
 
Schrader's career-high point total cam on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and a perfect 7-for-7 at the line. She also added four rebounds and three steals. Courtney Woods added 12 points, making good on all 10 of her free-throw attempts, and Emily Huneycutt added 11 points. Brianna Robinson grabbed a game-high nine boards to go with six steals.
 
Scheiman led the Cougars with 21 points. She shot just 3-of-14 from the field, but made good on 13-of-14 free-throw attempts. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, came up with four steals and added a pair of assists. Oneka Jones chipped in 10 points and six boards, and Caroline Young contributed five points, six rebounds and two blocks.
 
The Monarchs return home to host Salem on Tuesday beginning at 7:00 pm.