SALEM, Va. – An 11-0 run in the fourth quarter helped the 11th-ranked Washington and Lee women's basketball team pull away for good from Roanoke in a 76-62 win to clinch the team's program-record 23rd win of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (23-2, 17-1 ODAC) entered the fourth quarter with a 57-49 lead, which expanded to 60-49 after sophomore
Elka Prechel nailed her fifth three-point shot of the game. The Maroons (16-9, 11-7 ODAC) scored the next five points, but W&L responded with 11 consecutive points across more than five minutes of game time to hold a 71-54 lead with three and a half minutes left. W&L shot 4-of-8 during the run and forced four Roanoke turnovers, with senior
Hanna Malik leading the scoring efforts in that time with four points.
Roanoke's Rose Sande made a layup to end the run, but her bucket was just one of four for the Maroons across the final three and a half minutes of play, as the W&L defense helped secure the win.
The Generals held a slight three-point lead (19-16) through one quarter in a back-and-forth frame, but closed the period with five straight points, which were the first five of a 14-0 run into the second quarter. W&L went 4-for-4 from deep in that stretch, with three triples coming off the right hand of Prechel.
Roanoke responded with a 20-9 run across the next seven minutes of play to close the W&L lead to a single point, before Malik connected on three free throws just before halftime. The Generals grew their lead to as high as nine points in the third quarter, while Roanoke came as close as four points, before sophomore
Mary Schleusner and first-year
Zou Raine gave W&L its eight-point lead heading to the fourth with one basket each.
TOP PERFORMERS:
The trio of Malik, Schleusner and Prechel combined for 56 of W&L's 76 points on Saturday, with Malik tallying a game-high 20, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Schleusner posted 19 points, 22 rebounds and three steals, while Prechel tallied 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting and 5-of-11 from outside.
Sophomore
Quinn McGuinness added nine points, four rebounds and three assists, and sophomore
Sarah Zimmerman notched seven rebounds and a team-high five assists.
Sande scored a Maroons'-high 13 points plus seven rebounds, followed by a 12-point outing from Madison Nereu. Mariah Cain and Lauren Keel both scored 10 points, with Keel adding 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks to her line.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The Generals' 23rd win of the season marks a new all-time program high, and it is also the third consecutive season that they have set a new program wins record. W&L will head into the ODAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed after going 17-1 in conference games this season, besting the 2022-23 and 2021-22 teams' program record of 16-2. In total, W&L is 49-5 over the last three regular seasons against ODAC opposition.
With three more made three-point field goals, Malik now has 71 this season, which makes her the first player in program history with three seasons of at least 70 makes from deep. Malik has made 242 triples in her career, 19 away from break the program record (Meg Ingram '12).
Prechel moved past Megan Horn '22 for seventh place on the program's all-time three-point field goal list (132). She has made 135 in 54 career games, and she can move up another spot on the list with another nine (Louisa Feve '06).
Schleusner's 19-point effort closed the gap between her and 1,000 career points to 27. Schleusner has played in 54 career games and she is averaging an all-time program-high 18.0 points per game.
TEAM STATS:
W&L finished the game shooting 40.6 percent (26-64) from the field, and they limited the Maroons to 32.4 percent (23.71) overall. The Blue and White made nine of their 25 three-point shots to 6-of-23 for the home side and added a 15-of-19 effort at the free throw line.
The Generals also held a 50-37 advantage in rebounding, an 18-8 margin in second-chance points and a 19-7 count in fastbreak points. Roanoke was favored in points off turnovers (19-16) and bench points (14-6).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be the top seed for the ODAC Tournament, and will play in a quarterfinal game next Friday, February 23, at 1:00 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. Their opponent is to be determined.
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.
