LYNCHBURG, Va. – After a long-awaited return to action, the Washington and Lee women's basketball team cruised to a 68-41 win at Randolph on Tuesday night in its first game of the 2020-21 season.
 
The Generals move to 1-0 overall and in ODAC play with the win, while the WildCats fall to 1-3 overall and in conference.
 
Through the first four minutes of the game, Randolph held a slight 8-7 lead. The Generals then went on a quick 9-2 run, powered by five points from junior guard Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington) and four from senior guard Erin Hughes (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School).
 
Leading 18-16 to start the second quarter, senior guard Lynn Johnson (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School) connected on a triple, which sparked an overall 16-6 scoring edge in favor of W&L for the frame. Hughes tallied eight of the team's 16 points in the quarter, as the Generals went into halftime with a 34-22 lead.
 
Five straight points from the WildCats to open the third shrank the Generals' lead to five, but W&L pulled away for good with a 17-2 run, ending with a four-point play from first-year guard Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive).
 
The W&L defense remained aggressive in the fourth quarter, limiting Randolph to another six-point quarter, while the Generals' offense scored 17 to finish off the win.
 
Hughes finished the contest with a game-high 21 points on an efficient 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. She also added six rebounds two assists and two steals to her line. Addison provided strong minutes off the bench, scoring 12 on 5-of-9 shooting in 20 minutes, while adding six boards, two dimes and career-high tying four thefts.
 
Malik scored seven points and connected on two of her four long range attempts, while junior guards Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) and Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School) both finished with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
For the WildCats, first-year guard Kylie Starks scored 18 points and came away with seven steals, and sophomore guard Natalie Clark contributed 16 points and four rebounds.
 
The Generals made 42.2 percent (27-64) of their shots in the contest, including 33.3 percent (8-24) from long range, and held the WildCats to just 27.3 percent (15-55) from the field and 13.3 percent (2-15) from deep. W&L also held advantages over Randolph in points off turnovers (20-10), points in the paint (34-22) and second-chance points (15-5).
 
W&L returns to the court on Friday night for a 7:00 pm ODAC tip-off at Roanoke.