LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team recorded its third straight conference victory with a 58-42 win over Bridgewater on Tuesday evening at the Warner Center.

The Generals (13-9, 8-5) took the lead early in the first quarter and never surrendered it for the remainder of the contest.  Sophomore forward Ailyn Kelly (Clifton, Va. / Centreville) ignited a 13-4 run to close the first quarter, scoring six straight points for the Generals at the beginning of the run.

Bridgewater (11-10, 7-6) slowly chipped away at the W&L advantage, eventually cutting it to a one-point game (19-18) with 5:56 left in the half.  However, the Blue & White refused to give up the lead and closed the opening half with a 6-0 run to claim a 27-20 lead at the break.

The Generals then scored the first four points of the second half courtesy of junior guard Jackie Clifford (Tenafly, N.J. / Tenafly) to assume their first double-digit lead (31-20) of the contest.  The Eagles responded with a 10-2 run that made it a 33-30 contest with 4:23 left in the third period, but hot shooting from the outside that included three-pointers by sophomore guards Emily Perszyk (Greendale, Wis. / Greendale) and Andrea Ferrero (Ridgefield, Conn. / Ridgefield), and senior guard Alena Hamrick (Roanoke, Va. / Hidden Valley) pushed the lead back to 46-36 at the end of three periods.

In the fourth, an 8-0 run sparked by four points from Perszyk, pushed the advantage out to 16 points (56-40) and the Eagles never challenged from that point on.

The Generals shot 44.4 percent (24-54) from the floor and held a 42-32 advantage on the glass.  Clifford led the way with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor.  She also grabbed seven rebounds.  Kelly notched 10 points and hauled in six boards, while senior forward Shelbi Hendricks (Louisville, Ky. / Kentucky Country Day) tallied four points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Bridgewater was limited to just 30.3 percent (20-66) shooting and the Eagles went just 1-of-16 (.063) from beyond the arc.  Senior guard Cassidy Burkholder (Bridgewater, Va. / Turner Ashby) led the Eagles with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Washington and Lee returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Roanoke College for a 3:00 pm contest.

-- http://www.generalssports.com --