LEXINGTON, Va. – The 13th-ranked Washington and Lee women's basketball team shook a slow start and raced away from Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday night for a 66-50 win, their 10th consecutive victory overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After W&L (17-2, 9-1 ODAC) scored the first four points of the game, the Royals (8-11, 0-10 ODAC) responded by scoring the next 12 points across 5:28 of play to jump out to an eight-point lead. That proved to be EMU's largest lead of the night, as the Generals answered with a 15-3 run of their own, capped off by the second of two threes during the run from junior
Elka Prechel at the 6:32 mark of the second quarter.
The Royals then scored seven straight points to regain a three-point lead, but the Generals dominated for the rest of the half by scoring the final 15 points, which was part of an overall 19-0 run into the third for a 38-22 lead. Both sides made four shots the rest of the frame to leave the Generals ahead, 50-39, heading to the fourth, before they ran their lead to as high as 19 points after a
Riley Bryant layup with 4:57 left.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Junior
Sarah Zimmerman led the W&L offense with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, followed by 11 from Prechel and 10 each from junior
Mary Schleusner and sophomore
Brianna Shuttlewood. Prechel finished an efficient 4-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-5 from long range, while Schleusner provided 15 rebounds, three assists and four blocks. Shuttlewood grabbed six rebounds, and Bryant tied her career high with 10 boards to go along with nine points.
The Royals got a game-high 22 points from Jeriyah Osborne, who added six rebounds and three steals to her line. Grace Burke tallied 11 points and six rebounds, and Lauren Townsend scored eight points with nine boards.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
For just the fourth time in program history, the W&L women's basketball team has reached double digits for a winning streak, as Wednesday's victory was their 10th straight. That run ties the third-longest streak in program history from January 2, 2020, to February 5, 2020.
Prechel's three triples vaulted her past Emily Perszyk '18 for the fourth-most made three-point shots in a career in program history. Now with 198, Prechel looks to become the fourth player in program history to reach the 200 plateau along with Meg Ingram '12 (260),
Hanna Malik '24 (259) and Taylor Casey '20 (231).
TEAM STATS:
The Generals shot 38.5 percent (25-65) overall in the game, but 42.9 percent (21-49) after the first quarter, including 40 percent or better in each subsequent period. They held the Royals to 29.6 percent (16-54) shooting, both from inside and outside the arc (8-27), and forced the Royals into 19 turnovers.
W&L won the rebounding battle, 47-39, and held additional positive margins in second-chance points (12-5), bench points (16-11), points in the paint (32-14) and fastbreak points (19-4). EMU held the edge in points off turnovers at 22-20.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back in action on Saturday when they host Randolph-Macon at 2:00 p.m. in a battle of two of the Top 3 teams in the ODAC.
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.
