ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team fell to Catholic by a 63-50 score on Friday night on the first day of the Pablo Coto Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Marymount.
The Generals (1-2) jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the first two and a half minutes of the contest, but the Cardinals (4-0) answered by closing the frame on a 12-5 run. Catholic continued that hot stretch into the second quarter by scoring the first nine points to cap an overall 21-5 run to take a 24-14 lead midway through the second.
Sophomore forward
Emma Robertson (Saint George, S.C./Pinewood Prep) ended the Catholic run with a layup and later hit a free throw, while senior guard
Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) connected on her second triple of the first half with 51 seconds remaining. However, the Cardinals outscored the Generals, 10-6, over the final 3:35 of the second quarter to take a 34-20 lead into the half.
A 13-2 W&L run in the third quarter brought the Generals back within six points at 39-33 with four minutes left in the period. The run was highlighted by a couple of layups from senior guard
Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School) and a pair of threes from sophomore guard
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive).
Catholic responded immediately with a 10-1 run to push its lead back to 15 points and never led by less than 10 points over the final 11 and a half minutes.
Malik and Horn both scored 11 points to pace the W&L offense. Malik went 3-for-7 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from long range. Horn finished 5-of-13 from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Diehl totaled a game- and season-high 13 rebounds while adding seven points and two steals.
Catholic junior forward Rachel Bussanich led the offense with a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double, and made 5-of-7 shots in 35 minutes. Senior guard Amanda Johnson contributed 11 points and seven rebounds and junior guard Erin Doherty tallied 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Cardinals shot 42.9 percent (24-56) and limited the Generals to 27.3 percent (18-66) shooting on the night. W&L led in points off turnovers (19-15) and fastbreak points (6-2), while Catholic held advantages in bench points (24-13) and points in the paint (18-14).
The Generals will take on Eastern on Saturday at 5:30 pm in the consolation game of the Pablo Coto Tip-Off Tournament.
