ROANOKE, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team clinched the sixth seed in next week's ODAC Tournament with a 58-56 victory at Hollins on Saturday afternoon.
W&L's victory, combined with Eastern Mennonite's overtime loss at Virginia Wesleyan, means the Generals earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament and will face third-seeded Emory & Henry at 8:00 pm on Thursday evening at the Salem Civic Center.
The Generals, who claimed a 30-29 lead at halftime today, found themselves down nine points (45-36) with 11:06 to play in the game after Hollins began the second half on a 16-6 run. W&L used a 15-0 run over the next seven minutes of action to assume a 51-45 lead.
Hollins managed to cut its deficit to two points with 22 seconds to play. After a missed free throw by W&L, Hollins had a chance to send the game into overtime, however, a baseline jumper at the buzzer came up short.
The Generals (12-13, 9-11 ODAC) were paced by senior forward Jessica Mentz (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) who tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds. Senior center Megan Babst (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) added 15 points and five boards, while senior guard Sarah Schmidt (Topeka, Kan./Hayden) added 11 points and five assists.
Hollins was led by Brandi Cochran who scored a game-high 21 points.
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