LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team saw its season come to end on Tuesday evening, as the third-seeded Generals fell to second-seeded Lynchburg, 87-75, in the ODAC Semifinals.
After a tightly contested first half left the Hornets (10-1) ahead, 39-37, at the break, the Generals (5-3) tied the game at 43 points apiece after a pair of buckets from junior guard
Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School). Lynchburg then went on a 13-4 scoring run to close the quarter and commanded a 56-47 lead.
The fourth quarter scoring opened with a layup from Lynchburg junior forward Erin Green, which was countered by a three-pointer from Horn to cut the W&L deficit to 58-50. However, the Generals' offense was unable to keep up with the Hornets' attack as, after a free throw from Green, Lynchburg led by at least nine points the rest of the way to seal the win.
W&L scored the first five points of the game on a layup and a triple from Horn and senior guard
Erin Hughes (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School), respectively. The Hornets then went on a 10-2 run to gain a 10-7 lead, which was followed by even play for most of the remainder of the first half.
Despite Lynchburg pulling ahead by seven points (37-30) with two minutes left before halftime, W&L junior guard
Kate Groninger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) scored five of the Generals' final seven points of the half, including a corner three with one second to play to keep W&L within striking distance.
The Generals were led on offense by a 23-point effort from Horn, who shot 10-of-23 on the night, including 3-of-6 from long range, while adding six rebounds. Hughes finished with 15 points to cap her career with 1,027 points, the 13th-most in program history.
First-year guard
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) continued her hot shooting stretch, going 4-of-5 on three-point attempts to follow her 6-for-6 performance in the quarterfinals. Malik tallied 14 points in the game and finishes the season having gone 24-of-37 (.649) on three-point shots.
The Hornets were paced by junior guard Lizzie Davis, who scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, to go along with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Senior guard Maggie Quarles totaled 22 points and shot 6-of-9 from the field, while making 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc, including each of her first three in the early going. Green pitched in 16 points and six boards.
Lynchburg finished the game shooting 51.8 percent (29-56) from the floor, while limiting the Generals to 39.7 percent (31-78) shooting overall. Both teams shot 42.9 percent from long range, with the Generals (12-28) doubling Lynchburg's (6-14) makes and attempts. The Hornets held a decided advantage on free throws, however, going 23-of-29 from the line, to just 1-of-6 from W&L.
