LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team saw its 19-game home winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night in an 84-66 loss to Roanoke.
The Generals fall to 18-5 overall and 15-1 in conference play with the defeat, and it is their first loss at home since an 84-80 OT decision against Emory & Henry on December 1, 2019. The Maroons improve to 19-5 overall and 14-3 in the ODAC with the win.
Trailing by 15 points at the start of the third quarter, the Generals staged a rally which started with them scoring the first seven points of the frame. After a pair of Roanoke layups, W&L continued its run at a comeback with a 10-2 spurt to cut their deficit to four points with 1:56 remaining. Roanoke senior guard Kristina Harrel scored four points over the final 90 seconds of the third to help the Maroons push their lead back to five points going into the fourth.
Roanoke seized back control of the game by outscoring W&L, 18-4, over nearly the first eight minutes of the final quarter. The run was led by six points from senior guard Whitney Hopson and four from sophomore guard Lauren Keel. Roanoke closed the game with a 25-12 fourth-quarter score.
The Maroons scored the first six points of the game and opened the night on an overall 13-3 run. W&L limited further damage by staying within nine points until the 1:27 mark of the first, before scoring 11 straight points spanning into the second to take a 22-20 lead.
Later in the second, Roanoke answered by scoring 10 straight points, which was part of an overall 20-3 run to gain a 15-point heading into the half. The run was led, again, by Hopson and Keel, who combined for 18 of the 20 points, including 11 points from Hopson.
Sophomore guard
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) led the W&L offense with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting and 5-of-12 from long range. With her five triples, Malik moved into fourth place on the program's leaderboard for three-pointers in a season (68). She needs just eight more to break the record held by Meg Ingram '12 during the 2008-09 season. Malik also moved into 10th place for most made three's in a career (92).
Senior guard
Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington) added 11 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench, and senior guard
Megan Horn (Basking Ridge, N.J./The Pingry School) tallied nine points and five boards.
Hopson scored a game-high 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting overall, 3-for-4 from long range and a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line. Hopson also added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Harrel and Keel both scored 13 points on a combined 11-of-18 shooting, while senior guard Renee Alquiza totaled 10 points.
W&L shot 37.3 percent (25-67) overall in the game, while Roanoke made 47.8 percent (32-67) of its shots and 87.5 percent (14-16) free throws. In addition, the Maroons held a 14-point advantage in points off turnovers (19-5) and a 20-point edge in points in the paint (46-26).
The Generals return to the court on Saturday when they travel to Eastern Mennonite at 4:30 pm to close the regular season.
