LYNCHBURG, Va. – A cold shooting performance troubled the Washington and Lee women's basketball team, as the Generals dropped their regular season finale, 75-59, at Lynchburg on Saturday afternoon.
The Hornets (8-1) scored the first five points of the game before getting an answer on offense from the Generals (4-2). W&L then kept it close until the 3:35 mark of the first quarter, as Lynchburg held a slight 11-10 lead. The Hornets closed the opening frame on an 11-4 run and began the second on a 13-4 scoring stretch to pull away, 35-18, with 4:45 remaining in the half.
That margin held for a majority of the rest of the second until junior guard
Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) sank a three with 10 seconds left in the half to pull back to a 41-28 deficit.
Four different Generals led a 9-4 run to open the third, cutting the Hornets' lead to eight points with 7:26 remaining in the period. Both teams exchanged layups, then Lynchburg pulled away for good as the Generals were unable to cut their deficit back to single digits for the remainder of the contest.
Senior guard
Erin Hughes (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School) scored a team-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. She now needs just 12 more points to become the 14th member of the 1,000-point club in W&L women's basketball annals. Junior guard
Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington) tallied 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting overall, 2-of-4 from behind the arc, and added three rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes off the bench.
Senior guard
Lynn Johnson (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School) scored nine points, hitting on 3-of-6 long-range shots, while junior guard
Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School) finished with six points, four rebounds and five assists.
Lynchburg junior guard Lizzie Davis scored a game-high 29 points, making 13-of-20 shots from the field, and tallied eight rebounds. Senior guard Maggie Quarles and junior forwards Erin Green and Abby Oguich combined for 36 points, each scoring in double figures, and totaled 12 rebounds as a trio.
The Generals were limited to just 31 percent (22-71) shooting on the afternoon, while Lynchburg shot 45.3 percent (29-64) overall. The Hornets also bested W&L from long range, going 8-of-16 (.500) compared to 8-of-28 (.286) from the Blue and White. Lynchburg outscored W&L off turnovers (16-7) and in the paint (40-24), while the Generals held advantages in second-chance points (10-8) and bench points (20-7).
With their 3-1 ODAC record this season, the Generals have qualified for the ODAC Championship Tournament. Their next game is yet to be determined, as seedings will be finalized over the weekend.
