DANVILLE, Va. – The No. 14 Washington and Lee women's basketball team raced out to a 29-point lead through one quarter and never looked back in an 85-30 win at Averett on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (15-2, 7-1 ODAC) wasted little time in building up a massive lead on the Cougars (2-15, 0-8 ODAC), as they shot 14-of-20 from the field in the first quarter and 4-of-7 from deep to hold a 35-6 lead through one quarter. After an Averett bucket at the 7:34 mark made it a 9-4 game, the Generals scored the next 14 points and ended the quarter on an overall 26-2 run. Junior
Elka Prechel had a game-high nine through one quarter, with junior
Quinn McGuinness at seven points.
The second quarter was much tamer, but W&L increased its lead by six more points before halftime to go into the break ahead 51-16. In a period where the Blue and White outscored the hosts, 16-10, it was senior
Lauren Achter who led all scorers with five points in the quarter.
W&L's largest run of the third quarter reached 14 points, which came an Averett jumper away from another 14-0 from the end of the third and into the fourth. In the second half, the Generals outscored the Cougars, 34-14, and held them to 5-of-30 shooting.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Junior
Mary Schleusner led the Generals with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, to go along with 20 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and three steals. Prechel finished with 12 points, which came on four triples, with sophomore
Riley Bryant and junior
Sarah Zimmerman both scoring eight.
In total, all active players for the game scored for the Generals, with seven players scoring seven points or more.
DaiShaundria Giggetts scored an Averett-high 10 points, followed by Skylar Jones with eight points and Zariia America with six. Jones led the team with six rebounds, with Brianna Sams pulling in five boards.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Schleusner became just the third player in program history to cross the 1,500-point mark with her 15 points on Wednesday night. She now trails Meg Ingram '12 (1,556) for second place on the program's all-time scoring list by 44 points.
Prechel's four made three-point shots on the night moved her within three of passing Emily Perszyk '18 (195) for fourth place on the program's career leaderboard. Prechel has torched Averett over her last three times out against the Cougars, averaging five made threes per game on 44.1 shooting from deep in those games.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals shot 42.5 percent (34-80) from the field in the game, helped by a blistering 70 percent (14-20) in the opening 10 minutes. They also held Averett to 20.3 percent (13-64) shooting, including 0-for-19 from three-point range.
W&L more than doubled Averett's rebounding output, grabbing 68 boards to just 33. It marked the most rebounds in a game this season for the Generals and it tied for the third most in a game in program history. The Generals held additional scoring advantages in points off turnovers (22-4), second-chance points (29-2), bench points (35-12), points in the paint (46-24) and fastbreak points (18-4).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return home for their next contest, as they host Guilford on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
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.
