STAUNTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit, but their comeback came up just short in a 72-71 loss at Mary Baldwin on Sunday.
 
Trailing by a score of 61-50 with 5:11 left in the game, sophomore guard Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) sparked the W&L (0-1) comeback with a three. After two free throws from MBU (2-0), senior guard Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School) hit a three of her own, before Malik sank three free throws to cut the margin to four points.
 
Both sides traded two free throws, before Malik sank a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one point. After two more MBU free throws, Malik tied the game with a layup and a free throw with 1:27 remaining. The Fighting Squirrels then pulled back ahead by two points, but W&L put the ball back in the hands of Malik, who was fouled on a three-point shot and went on to hit all three free throws to give the Generals a 71-70 lead with 13 seconds left.
 
MBU senior guard Demet Saygili then banked in a layup with two seconds left in the contest, before a Malik three-point attempt fell short at the buzzer.
 
The two sides were evenly matched through nearly the first eight minutes, as the Generals held a slight 14-13 edge. The Fighting Squirrels, however, closed the frame on a 9-2 run, including the last six points, to go into the second quarter with a 22-16 lead.
 
After both teams traded one score each to open the second, the Generals kept the game within a four-point margin for the entirety of the second quarter. The Fighting Squirrels looked to go into halftime with a four-point lead, but Horn cut that margin in half before the halftime buzzer with a layup.
 
With Mary Baldwin ahead, 38-35, with 6:28 left in the third, the Generals scored five straight points on a three from Malik and a two-point jumper from senior guard Kate Groninger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) to take a two-point lead. The Fighting Squirrels then went on a 12-2 run to gain an eight-point lead, before Groninger connected on a triple to end the quarter.
 
Malik paced the W&L offense with a career-high 29 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 from the foul line. Horn added 17 points and seven rebounds, while Groninger and senior guard Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) each scored eight.
 
Saygili led the Fight Squirrels' offense with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-8 from long range and 4-for-4 on free throws, to go along with eight boards and four dimes. Junior guard Jalen Gathers posted 17 points and four rebounds and sophomore guard A'Cetta Farrait scored nine points and pulled down nine rebounds.
 
W&L shot 38.9 percent (21-54) overall in the game and went 9-of-24 (.375) from long range and 19-of-29 (.655) on free throws. Mary Baldwin shot 42.9 percent (27-63) overall and connected on 13-of-18 (.722) foul shots. For the game, the Generals outscored MBU in points off turnovers (15-12) and bench points (36-10), but the Fighting Squirrels held the advantage in second-chance points (10-3) and points in the paint (26-20).
 
The Generals will return to the court on Wednesday, November 17, for their home opener against Ferrum at 7:00 pm.