No. 13 Tars Shake of Rust to Tally Eighth Straight Win

Feeling the effects of a 26-day layoff, 13^th-ranked Rollins fell into a 14-point hole early, but battled back to beat Cedarville University 68-57 Thursday in the first game of the Rollins Holiday Classic.

The win was the Tars eighth-straight and improves their record to 8-1 on the season while the Yellow Jackets drop to 6-4.

Sarah Blackburn and Ashley Jones each netted 16-points to lead the way for Rollins. Jones hit three, 3-pointers while Blackburn hit a pair. Paris Moore added 10 points.

Kayla Jenerette netted a game-high 29 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, including a perfect 3-of-3 mark from 3-point range, to lead Cedarville. She was also 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Deborah Gordon chipped in nine points and eight rebounds.

Jenerette came out of the gate on fire, scoring 12 of the Yellow Jackets first 14 points to give the visitors from Ohio a 16-2 lead after five minutes.

The Tars slowly chipped away over the next 10 minutes and used a Kourtnie Berry triple and Blackburn jumper to knot the score at 26. Rollins went on to out-score Cedarville by one the rest of the fame and took a 33-32 lead into the locker room.

Jenerette missed just two of nine shots and ended the first period with 18 points while Blackburn netted nine for the Tars.

Rollins kept the momentum rolling into the second half and ran out to a 52-38 lead with 11:09 to play. Jones was the spark for Rollins, hitting two 3-pointers and netting 12 points during the span.

The Jackets trimmed the Tars advantage to seven twice down the stretch, but Rollins was able to hold on for the win.

Cedarville shot 44 percent (20-45) in the game, going 7-of-15 (46 percent) from the 3-point line and 10-of-10 from the stripe. Rollins hit 38 percent (26-68) from the field and were just 9-of-36 (25 percent) from long range and 7-of-11 (63 percent) from the free throw line.

The Tars caused 30 Cedarville turnovers and committed just 14. The Jackets won on the glass, 36-34.

Rollins will meet Holy Family to start day two of the Rollins Holiday Classic with tipoff set for Noon on Friday, Dec. 30. Fans can listen to all the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM, WPRK.