Junior guard Ansley Miller (Athens, Ga./ Athens Academy) iced two free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining in the game to give the Washington and Lee women's basketball team (6-9, 5-6 ODAC) a 71-70 victory over Virginia Wesleyan (9-6, 8-4 ODAC) on Tu esday evening at the Warner Center. The win was W&LUs first in ten previous meetings with VWC.
W&L jumped out to a quick six-point lead, 11-5 with 12:34 remaining in the first half. The Blue Marlins then went on a run that put them on top by a 35-26 margin with 1:02 left in the first half. W&L then closed the gap to 35-30 going into half time.
Virginia Wesleyan stretched the lead to 10 at 41-31 with 16:34 left in the game before W&L went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to one, (45-44) with 13:02 left. The Blue Marlins then brought the lead back to nine, 56-47 with 9:27 left. The Generals f ought back to take their first lead of the game, 65-64 with 2:40 to go. The Generals took another lead with 22 seconds left, when Miller hit two free throws to give W&L a 69-68 lead. With 11 seconds to go, Virginia Wesleyan's freshman guard Jo-Lyn Be n der (Scoharie, N.Y./ Scoharie) hit a lay-up to put VWC up by one. Miller was then fouled with 2.5 seconds remaining and hit her free throws to give the Generals the one-point victory.
W&L was led by Miller, who scored 20 points and was 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Freshman center Jessica Mentz (Ellicott City, Md./ Centennial) scored 16 points, shooting 6-of-7 from the field. Senior forward Chrissy Burghardt (Rockaway, N.J./ Morris Hills) scored 15 points on 4-of-5 field goal shooting and added nine rebounds. Burghardt is now 23 points away from becoming the first General to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
The Blue Marlins were led by junior guard Nancy Mattox (Glen Allen, Va./ Hermitage), who scored 17 points, 15 of which were scored in the second half. Sophomore forward Erin Duckett (Virginia Beach, Va./ Kempsville) scored 12 points.
W&L will be in action again when it hosts Lynchburg College at the Warner Center on Thursday evening at 7:00. The Generals won the previous meeting at Lynchburg by a 78-62 score on Jan. 12.
