BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College women's basketball team overcame a slow start Thursday evening to defeat Virginia Wesleyan 81-70 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action.

With the victory the Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play. The visiting Marlins dropped to 12-6, 5-3 in the ODAC.

The Eagles made just one of their first nine shots of the game to dig a big hole early. The Marlins seized the opportunity and opened up a double digit lead. A free throw by Katie Tassa with 8:45 put the visitors on top 23-13 and, after Rebecca Reifsnider hit two foul shots, and 3-pointer by Kerri-Leanne Taylor pushed the lead to 11 points, 26-15. Tassa then added a jumper at the 5:22 mark to give the Marlins their biggest lead of the half, 28-15.

 Bridgewater finally got its offense untracked and used a 16-4 run to pull within a single point. Cassidy Burkholder ignited the run with a 3-pointer and, after a free throw by Taylor, Holly Morgan hit from beyond the arc, cutting the Marlins lead to 29-21.

The Marlins scored on a layup by Crystal Strother, but a jumper by Morgan and a 3-pointer by Jessi Strom cut the deficit in half, 31-26.

Brittany Glasco hit 1-of-2 at the foul line before a layup by Oshene Kelly and a 3-pointer by Morgan trimmed the Marlins lead to one, 32-31 with 1:07 left in the half.

Tassa scored on a layup with 22 seconds left to send Virginia Wesleyan to the locker room with a 34-31 advantage.

Bridgewater opened the second half with five quick points to take the lead. Morgan and Heather Cantrell scored in the lane and Molly Shelley hit 1-of-2 from the line for a 36-34 Eagles lead.

The Marlins quickly regained the upper hand with a 3-pointer by Kelly Jones and a 15-footer by Strother, making the score 39-36.

Shelley then knocked down a jumper and Strom hit from 3-point range to put the Eagles back out front, 41-39, with 15:14 left to play.

A free throw by Cantrell and a layup by Shelley pushed the lead to five before Strother knocked down a 3-pointer to pull the Marlins within a deuce, 44-42, with 13:54 left.

Bridgewater then opened up a little breathing room with the next five points. Shelley hit two foul shots and Cantrell worked the paint and converted a three-point play, making the score 49-42.

Bridgewater maintained its advantage, but the Marlins hung tough and slowly whittled away at the deficit. When Virginia Wesleyan's Nancy Kelly scored on a layup with 7:10 remaining, the Bridgewater lead was down to a single point, 60-59.

Strom then connected on a 15-footer and Burkholder hit 1-of-2 foul shots to push the Eagles lead to four points, 63-59, with 5:55 left on the game clock. Jessica Lam hit four consecutive free throws to push the lead to eight and a 3-pointer by Burkholder gave Bridgewater a 70-59 lead with 3:48 remaining.

The Eagles secured the victory by hitting 11-of-12 free throws down the stretch to close out the 81-70 victory.

Bridgewater placed all five starters in double figures with Shelley and Cantrell leading the way with 15 points each. Strom and Burkholder scored 13 each and Morgan finished with 12. The Eagles also received big contributions off the bench as Lam scored nine points and Kelly pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

Kelly paced the Marlins with 15 points and Glasco scored 14. Jones added 13 points and Strother scored 12 for the visitors. Glasco completed a double-double with 10 rebounds while Tassa scored nine points and matched Glasco's 10 boards.

The difference came at the foul line where the Eagles hit 33-of-41 attempts for an impressive 80.5 percent accuracy. In the second half, Bridgewater hit 36-of-31 for 83.9 percent.