SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- After a slow start, the Elizabethtown College women's basketball team worked its way back into Wednesday's neutral site matchup with Roanoke and led in the second half, but the Maroons pulled away in the fourth quarter and went on to win, 78-68. Veronica Christ led E-town with 22 points.

Roanoke (5-3) got out to a 7-0 lead before Christ knocked down a pair of foul shots to get Elizabethtown (5-3) on the board. Eight of the 12 points in the first quarter were from the foul line as Christ, Marissa Emlet, and Clare Marchese combined to go 8-for-8 from the free throw line. The Maroons led by three after one, 15-12.

Emlet and Lydia Lawson knocked down consecutive treys for E-town in the second quarter. Angie Hawkins then hit on the next two shots from the floor for the Jays. Christ then gave Elizabethtown their first lead of the game with another set of freebies. It was 26-24 with just under six minutes left before halftime.

Roanoke built the lead back up to six until Yaya Cannon knocked down a three from the right wing. Mikayla Ruth swung the ball over to the freshman, who drained the shot from beyond the arc to cut the deficit in half.

Just as fast as the Maroons ran their advantage back up to seven, the Blue Jays came right back to knock it back down to two in the closing minutes of the second quarter. Ruth canned a three-pointer, then Christ came up with the steal and Lawson finished off the play on the fastbreak for the easy bucket with 43 seconds left.

Roanoke led 40-37 at the half.

Christ had the first four points of the third quarter as Elizabethtown retook the lead, 41-40. The Maroons responded with an 11-0 run to go up by double digits with 6:07 remaining in the period. Marchese ended the scoreless drought for the Jays, hauling in an offensive board and putting it back up for the layup. That made it 52-43. Marchese provided five points and four rebounds off the bench for E-town.

Lawson capped off a 7-0 run for the Blue Jays with a jumper from the left wing, just inside the arc, and after being down ten, E-town trailed by just three, 53-50, with 3:44 left in the third. The senior ended the quarter with two makes from the foul line after Roanoke turned the ball over with only a few seconds remaining. Lawson drew the foul with less than a second and knocked down the pair. Lawson hit all ten of her foul shot attempts in the game and the Jays led 60-59 after three.

The teams went back and forth over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter as the lead exchanged sides multiple times. Roanoke grabbed the lead for good with 4:45 remaining in regulation as Ayanna Scarborough completed a three-point play. The Maroons led 68-66 after the made foul shot.

Lawson found Christ for the layup with nearly two and a half minutes to go, but the gap was a bit too big and Roanoke connected on its final two shots of the game without allowing another basket to the Blue Jays.

Christ had a game-high 22 points for Elizabethtown and also grabbed nine rebounds. Lawson added 19 for the Jays. Roanoke had five players in double figures, led by 13 from Scarborough and Rose Sande.

Elizabethtown will play Texas Dallas on Friday at 3:30 p.m. EST.