ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team fell by a 67-55 score to Loras on Sunday on the first day of the St. Pete Classic at Eckerd College.
Trailing by a score of 40-31 with just under three minutes left in the third, Duhawks (6-3) scored 17 points in a row spanning into the fourth quarter to take a 48-40 lead. Junior guard Cierra Bachmann connected on two three-point shots and a free throw to highlight the run.
The Generals (5-3) pulled back to within two points with just over three and a half minutes on a 13-7 run, with four points each scored by sophomore guard
Grace O'Connor (Hillsborough, N.J. / Hillsborough) and senior guard
Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School). Loras pulled away for good, however, with a 12-2 run to close the game, with eight of those points coming from junior guard Madison Fleckenstein.
The Duhawks held a slim 19-18 lead at the 6:39 mark of the second quarter, before the Generals scored 12 straight points to pull ahead by 11 points with 22 seconds remaining in the half. First-year forward Emerson Whittenbaugh made a three with eight seconds left, and W&L only led by as many as 10 points once more ahead of the 17-0 Loras run.
Horn scored a team-high 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting and 3-for-6 from long range, in addition to seven rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks. Senior guard
Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington) scored seven points and came away with three steals and senior guard
Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) tallied seven points and six boards. With her six rebounds, Diehl entered the program's all-time Top 10 list for career rebounds (552).
Loras was paced by 21 points from Fleckenstein and an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double from sophomore forward Sami Martin. Bachmann finished the contest with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Duhawks made 42.9 percent (24-56) from the floor and 30.4 percent (7-23) from long range, while limiting the Generals to 32.4 percent (22-68) overall and 17.2 percent (5-29) on three-point shots. Loras outscored W&L off turnovers (22-20), in the paint (34-30) and on second-chance points (9-5). The Generals owned a 22-15 edge in bench points.
The Generals will close out competition at the St. Pete Classic on Monday with a 1:00 pm contest against Lake Forest.
