BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The No. 6/8 Washington and Lee women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Wednesday by a 63-49 score at Bridgewater in another early-season ODAC contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Trailing by 10 points entering the third quarter, the Generals (5-1, 1-1 ODAC) began to cut into the Bridgewater lead when junior
Elka Prechel hit her second three of the game, followed by two free throws from sophomore
Zou Raine and one foul shot from junior
Mary Schleusner. The Eagles (8-0, 2-0 ODAC) responded with seven straight points to get it back to an 11-point lead, before Prechel nailed another three to start a 10-2 run to make it 44-41 Bridgewater at the 1:12 mark of the third.
The Generals went cold from the floor after that, however, as they made just three of their final 15 shots from the field over the final 10 and a half minutes. Bridgewater outscored the Blue and White 19-8 during that span to close out the upset win.
The Eagles started strong to open the game, building a 7-1 lead through two minutes of play, before the teams split 24 points evenly for the remainder of the quarter. Schleusner scored a W&L-high seven points in the opening frame while five different Eagles got on the scoreboard.
The six-point BC advantage grew to nine through the first four minutes of the second quarter, preceding a seven-point spurt from the Generals to make it a two-point game with 1:44 left before the half. Bridgewater ended the half by making each of its final four shots for an 11-3 run to take a 10-point lead into the break.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Schleusner scored a W&L-best 14 points and pulled down 20 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards, for her second 20-rebound game of the season. She also had four blocks and two steals. Prechel came in next with 12 points, as she made 4-of-9 triples for the second-straight game, while Raine tallied 10 points. Sophomore
Riley Bryant was among W&L's defensive leaders with three blocks and nine total rebounds.
Jay Garcia led all players with 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 13 rebounds. jaden Alsberry also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards, with Alexis Edmonds scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Schleusner's 15 points moved her past Louisa Feve '06 (1,305) for eighth place on the program's all-time scoring list, and Schleusner can pass Taylor Casey '20 for seventh with two more points. Schleusner also moved to 10 rebounds away from becoming the second player in program history to reach 1,000 career rebounds. Jessica Hunsinger '07 has the record at 1,046.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals struggled shooting the ball on Wednesday, finishing at 25 percent (16-64) overall, 19.2 percent (5-26) from long range and 54.5 percent (12-22) on foul shots. While the Eagles finished at 37.3 percent (25-67) shooting from the floor, they made 48.4 percent (15-31) of their shots in the first and fourth quarters.
The Eagles outrebounded the Blue and White, 52-45, and both teams grabbed 21 offensive rebounds. Despite the split, second-chance points favored W&L, 19-11, with the Eagles holding 14-7 and 26-22 advantages in bench points and points in the paint, respectively.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be off until December 15 when the team hits the west coast for a two-game road trip, starting with Pacific at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT.
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.
