LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 7/8 Washington and Lee women's basketball team fought off a third-quarter rally by Southern Virginia and closed with a strong fourth quarter to secure a 69-61, season-opening win on Monday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (1-0) led by eight points entering the third and added another on a
Quinn McGuinness free throw, before Addison Newman led a 10-3 run for the Knights (1-1) to get their deficit down to two points with seven minutes left in the frame. Over the next four minutes, SVU kept up with the W&L attack, and saw their deficit shrink to one point after Newman sank a three.
Both teams failed to make another field goal for the remainder of the third. The Generals then managed a 9-2 run spanning into the fourth quarter, helped by a floater off the glass from sophomore
Brianna Shuttlewood to open the quarter and a layup on the next possession from McGuinness.
The Knights responded by making their next three shots to stay within three points at the mid-way point of the period, but the Generals ended the game on a 13-8 stretch, made 5-of-7 shots from the floor and limited the Knights to 4-of-11 shooting. Across the final five minutes of play, the Knights came as close as three points down with 2:34 left, while the Generals ran their lead to as high as 10 points with 27 seconds remaining.
The Generals began the game on a 12-2 run across the first six and a half minutes, as the Knights made only one of their first 10 shot attempts. SVU then scored seven in a row to make it a 12-9 game with 1:38 left in the opening frame, before sophomores
Zou Raine and
Riley Bryant scored 11 points during a 14-3 W&L run to go back up 26-12 at the 5:52 mark of the second. The half ended with SVU scoring 14 of the final 22 points for a 34-26 halftime advantage.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Junior
Mary Schleusner led all players with 28 points on the night on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-5 from long range and 6-of-10 at the free throw line. She added 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks to her line, as well.
McGuinness and Raine both scored 10 points on a combined 5-of-11 from the floor and 10-of-13 from the foul line. McGuinness added seven boards, five dimes and two thefts, while Raine had five rebounds, a steal and a block. Bryant tallied nine points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
The Knights were led by Newman, who finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Ruth Kempler added 14 points and four rebounds, while Abigail Snyder tied Newman for the team high with five rebounds.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Schleusner's 28 points pushed her over 1,200 career points (1,206), as she became the 11th player in program history to reach that mark. Schleusner can pass former teammate
Hanna Malik '24 for 10th place on the program's scoring list with four more points.
Schleusner moved up the program's career total rebounds list on Monday night with her 14 boards. She became the fifth player in program history to pull down 900 rebounds, and she passed Becca Bolton '12 (904) for fourth place. Schleusner has 909 rebounds in her career, and she can move up another spot with 17 more (Megan Babst '02).
TEAM STATS:
The Generals shot 37.1 percent (23-62) from the field but made 54.1 percent (20-37) of their two-point field goals, while making 20-of-29 free throw attempts. SVU was limited to 30.3 percent (20-66) shooting overall, including 20.6 percent (7-34) from beyond the arc. W&L also outrebounded the Knights, 52-40, overall and 18-14 on the offensive glass.
Southern Virginia edged the Blue and White in bench points (22-8) and points off turnovers (14-12), but the Generals held a 24-4 positive margin in fastbreak points.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to the court on Saturday when they take on Emory at 1:00 p.m. on the first day of the Emory Tip-Off Tournament.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
