LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team powered past Bridgewater by a score of 81-39 on Wednesday evening.
The win marks the 19th consecutive home victory for the Generals, as they improve to 17-4 overall and 14-1 in the ODAC. W&L is now just one win away from tying the program record for most conference wins in a season. Bridgewater falls to 8-11 overall and 5-7 in conference with the loss.
Bridgewater opened the scoring in the game, but the Generals responded with a 17-3 run to take a 12-point lead. Junior
Kathryn Vandiver (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) led the way during the run with six points. The Eagles slowly pulled the game back within five points at the 4:02 mark of the second, before a three from sophomore guard
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) sparked a 10-2 run to end the half and an overall 19-2 stretch into the third.
The Generals led by a 44-22 score when the run ended at the 6:28 mark of the third, and they gradually extended the lead to 25 points through three quarters. W&L then scored the first 11 points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 16-3 run and a 24-7 fourth-quarter score.
Malik led a group of five Generals in double figures on the night with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 5-of-9 from long range. With her five triples, Malik moved into eighth place on the program's single-season three-pointers made leaderboard (58). Senior guard
Erin Addison (Waxhaw, N.C./Weddington) tallied 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, while Vandiver, senior guard
Kate Groninger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and first-year forward
Lauren Achter (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) each scored 10 points.
Vandiver scored her 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the floor, the second game this year a W&L player has recorded a perfect field-goal percentage on a minimum of five shots. It is also the second time this season after senior guard
Jordan Diehl (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) accomplished the feat just four days ago. Diehl finished with seven rebounds and seven assists, while sophomore forward
Grace O'Connor () tallied six points, nine boards and seven dimes in 21 minutes.
Bridgewater sophomore guard Julia Williams totaled a team-high 11 points, and first-year forward Reagan Maynard scored eight points with three rebounds. Sophomore forward Jaden Alsberry scored four points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
The Generals had a strong game on both ends of the floor, as they shot 50 percent (32-64) from the field and 37.9 percent (11-29) from long range. The W&L defense held the Eagles to just 27 percent shooting (17-63), including 6.3 percent (1-16) from three-point range. It marked the sixth game this season that the Generals have held their opponents to exactly one triple and it's also the sixth time holding their opponents under 50 points.
The Generals will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Guilford for a 4:30 pm conference matchup.
