LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team crashed the boards and played lockdown defense in a 62-43 season-opening win over Ferrum on Thursday evening.
The Generals (1-0, 1-0 ODAC) finished the game with a program-record 13 blocked shots in limiting the Panthers to just 24.2 percent (16-66) shooting in the game. W&L also logged its second-most total rebounds in a game (65) in program on the night, while pulling down 29 offensive boards.
W&L came into the second half with a 28-19 lead, but a 9-2 run from Ferrum (0-1, 0-1 ODAC) pulled the Panthers back to within two points with 5:46 left in the frame. Junior forward
Olivia Berntson (Memphis, Tenn. / St. Agnes Academy) then kick-started an 11-1 W&L run with a layup on an assist from senior guard
Ana Dorta (Katonah, N.Y. / John Jay). After a Ferrum free throw, W&L capped the run with nine straight points, including a triple each from first-year guard
Elka Prechel (Corvallis, Ore. / Corvallis) and junior guard
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C. / Athens Drive).
The 11-1 W&L run was also part of a 22-5 overall run, as the Generals began to run away with the game with a 52-33 advantage early in the fourth quarter. The final eight minutes of the contest saw both teams score 10 points each to yield the final total.
Both teams got off to sluggish starts in their first bit of action of the 2022-23 campaign, but the Generals still held an 8-0 lead through the first five minutes of the first quarter. After a Kayla Cabiness layup got Ferrum on the board with 4:32 left in the first, the Panthers slowly clawed their way back to a 23-19 deficit with 3:07 to play in the second quarter. The Generals closed out the opening half with five straight points, ending in a Malik three-pointer with 22 seconds left.
Junior forward
Grace O'Connor led the W&L defensive efforts on the day with a career-high five blocked shots to go along with eight rebounds. Malik finished as the team's leading scorer with 11 points, including a trio of triples. Malik is now up to 102 made three-point shots in her career, the ninth player in program history to cross the century mark, and she needs four more to move past former teammate Kate Groninger '22 for eighth place.
First-year forward
Mary Schleusner (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Latin School) and senior forward
Kathryn Vandiver (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Latin School) scored 10 points and nine points, respectively. Vandiver tallied a game-high 10 rebounds, while Schleusner added nine, and both players grabbed six offensive boards. First-year guard
Sofia Feigelson (Millbrook, N.Y. / Millbrook School) also performed well in her collegiate debut, with five points, nine rebounds and three steals, tied with Vandiver for the most on the team.
Ferrum was led on offense by Trina Lewis, who scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. DeMeisha Canada finished with a team-high eight rebounds, while Aisha Martin and Alexis Miller both came away with three steals.
W&L's previous single-game blocks record of 11 had been reached four times and not since February 13, 2007, against Randolph, while the 65 team rebounds are second only to a 75-rebound effort that same day. The Blue and White held a wide 12-2 margin in fastbreak points, in addition to a 24-18 edge in points in the paint, 23-20 in bench points and 15-13 in points off turnovers.
The Generals will return to the hardwood on Wednesday when they travel to Eastern Mennonite for a 7:00 pm ODAC tip-off.
