LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 14 Washington and Lee women's basketball team outscored Virginia Wesleyan by 19 points in the first quarter on Sunday and never looked back in an 87-40 win in their first home game in over a month.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Marlins (4-6, 0-4 ODAC) tallied the first points of the game at the 9:28 mark on a Jaiden Hunter layup, but their lead was short-lived as W&L (10-2, 2-1 ODAC) sophomore
Riley Bryant connected on a three 45 seconds later, and it was off to the races for the Blue and White. Including Bryant's triple, the Generals proceeded to go on a 19-4 run over four minutes of play, with Bryant notching eight of those points, to take a 19-6 lead.
Mckenzie Wiggins then made a driving layup at the 4:12 mark of the first, before the Generals outscored their opponents 20-7 over the next nearly 10 minutes of action to run their lead to 39-15 midway through the second. The Marlins managed to engage in some back-and-forth for the next three minutes, but an 11-2 W&L run pushed their lead out to 58-23 with 8:32 left in the third.
Both teams scored 11 points the rest of the third, but W&L finished the game strong by outscoring the Marlins, 18-6, in the fourth quarter to post the final 47-point margin.
TOP PERFORMERS:
W&L junior
Quinn McGuinness made nearly all her shots on the way to a game-high 15 points. She sank all four field goal attempts, including a pair of outside shots, plus a 5-for-6 game at the foul line. Bryant ended the day with 13 points (5-8 FG) and seven rebounds, with junior
Mary Schleusner getting a 10-point, 14-rebound double-double.
Sophomore
Zou Raine and seniors
Lauren Achter and
Cat Pettegrove combined for 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, while junior
Sarah Zimmerman did a little of everything with seven points (2-3 FG), five rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.
Keagan Schwab and Bre Robinson both scored eight points to pace the VWU offense, with Jada Norman following with seven points. Brianna Long grabbed a team-high six rebounds and scored six points, and she also came away with three steals.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
Sunday's win marked the 11th straight for W&L over Virginia Wesleyan in the all-time head-to-head. It was the sixth game in that stretch in which the Generals have allowed less than 50 points to the Marlins, and it was the fifth 40-point win for the Generals during the streak.
TEAM STATS:
W&L shot 47.1 percent (32-68) from the floor in the game, including an impressive 55.9 percent (19-34) in the first half. The Generals made eight threes and 15-of-22 free throws, while holding the Marlins to 34 percent (18-53) shooting and 1-of-8 from deep.
The Blue and White pulled down 51 rebounds, 21 of which were offensive, to just 27 total rebounds for the Marlins. W&L held additional statistical advantages in points off turnovers (30-11), second-chance points (18-5), bench points (38-12), points in the paint (40-28) and fastbreak points (12-4).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will get back on the road for their next contest, as they take on Hollins on Wednesday night at 7:00 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.
