LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee women's basketball team gave top-ranked Christopher Newport all it could handle, but a layup with a tenth of a second left in double-overtime gave the Captains the 104-102 win over the Generals on Sunday.
After a pair of technical free throws made by junior
Hanna Malik (Raleigh, N.C. / Athens Drive) began the second overtime period, the Captains (14-0) regained the lead with an 8-1 run, going up, 101-96, with 1:41 to play. With 1:27 left, sophomore
Lauren Achter (Wyckoff, N.J. / Ramapo) hit a layup while being fouled, to cut the deficit to two points after the made foul shot. CNU's Alivia Giles then went 1-for-2 at the foul line with 21 seconds to play, before Malik connected on a deep three-point shot to tie the score at 102.
The Captains then missed a shot on the other end, but a W&L (10-4) turnover after the defensive rebound gave the ball back to CNU with under five seconds to play. Camille Malagar, who came up with the steal, then found Katy Rader for the game-winning layup with 0.1 seconds on the clock.
Malik hit a triple just nine seconds into the first OT period, and the lead grew to four points (89-85) with just under two minutes left. Christopher Newport then scored six straight points to take a 91-89 lead, before a pair of free throws from first-year
Sofia Feigelson (Millbrook, N.Y. / Millbrook School) knotted things back up with 11 seconds left. Malagar then hit what looked to be the game-winning jumper with two seconds remaining, before the buzzer went off with the Captains ahead, 93-91. However, a technical foul was assessed to a member of the CNU coaching staff, allowing Malik to attempt, and subsequently hit, two free throws to send the game to the second extra period.
The Generals entered the fourth quarter with a 62-57 lead and grew their advantage to 75-65 with six minutes to play, led on a 13-8 run by six points from Feigelson. The Captains went on to outscore W&L by a 13-3 margin over the final six minutes of regulation to force overtime, with Hannah Kaloi notching seven points in that stretch.
W&L assumed an early lead in the game, leading 8-3 through three minutes, but the Captains rebounded to outscore the Generals, 17-9, for the remainder of the frame to go into the second quarter with a three-point lead. The Generals then turned things around in the next 10 minutes with a 23-16 quarter score to take a 40-36 lead into the half. W&L allowed just two back-to-back scores all quarter, with its longest scoring run reaching seven points.
CNU opened the third with a 7-1 run, but it was quickly countered by a 7-0 stretch from the Generals, with five points coming from Feigelson. Another 5-0 run from the Captains helped them keep their deficit at five points heading into the fourth.
Malik, who scored 28 points in the team's previous game, tied her career high of 29 points, with 16 coming across the fourth quarter and two overtime periods. She shot 7-of-13 overall, 5-of-10 from deep and a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line, with all of her free throw attempts occurring over the final 20 minutes of play. Additionally, Malik's five triples moved her ahead of
Megan Horn '22 for sixth place on the program's made three's list. She needs seven more to tie Louisa Feve '06 for fifth.
Feigelson finished with 15 points and eight assists, while senior
Kathryn Vandiver (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Latin School) fell one rebound shy of a double-double, adding 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. First-year
Sarah Zimmerman (Cincinnati, Ohio / Cincinnati Country Day) notched 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks and first-year
Mary Schleusner (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Latin School) tallied 10 points and six rebounds.
The Captains were led by a combined 56 points on 22-of-30 shooting from Kaloi and Anaya Simmons. Kaloi matched Malik with 29 points, and she added eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals. Simmons scored 27 points, brought in 13 rebounds and blocked three shots. Sondra Fan finished with 19 points and three assists.
W&L matched its season high in field goal percentage in the game, shooting 52.9 percent (36-68) from the floor, while limiting the Captains, who have the ninth-best three-point percentage (.358) in Division III, to just 15.4 percent (4-26). W&L's bench outscored CNU's by a 39-13 margin, while the Captains held a 38-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Generals will return to ODAC play for the remainder of the regular season, and will next take on Roanoke at home on Wednesday at 5:00 pm.
