VIRGINIA BEACH -- Despite holding a lead from start-to-finish over Bridgewater College's Eagles, most of the time in double digits, the host Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins found themselves doing whatever necessary in the final minutes to keep things under control.
The Marlins posted a 71-61 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory at The Jane P. Batten Student Center after coming up with some key plays in the final minutes to squelch the Eagles.
After Jessica Mullen (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) and Shannan Thorne (Cross Junction, Va./James Wood) hit back-to-back baskets to trim VWC's lead to 58-54 with 4:05 remaining in the game, seniorKristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian), hampered by fouls most of the game, ripped through a jumper to answer for the Marlins.
Bridgewater missed a triple in its next possession, and saw the Marlins hit a long-ranger as junior Rachael Miller (Sterling, Va./Park View) pushed Virginia Wesleyan into a 63-54 lead. The consecutive VWC baskets were enough to keep momentum with the host team the rest of the way as senior Shawnee Lewis (Alexandria, Va./Thomas A. Edison), rookie Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg), and Blalock all hit free throws for the Marlins, who led 69-58 with 1:01 remaining to be played.
Virginia Wesleyan (3-1, 2-0) never trailed in the game, riding a 20-3 scoring run in a span of 12 minutes to open up a 25-7 lead. Seven Marlins scored in the decisive run, led by Seipp with five points and senior Jocelyn Spencer (Newport News, Va./Hampton Roads Academy) with four.
The Marlins went on to post a 30-15 lead by halftime and enjoyed their largest lead at 37-15 following a Miller triple with 18:54 remaining in the second half.
Bridgewater refused to fold however, and chipped away at the lead until it fell under double digits when Holly Morgan hit a triple to cut VWC's lead to 53-45 with 8:23 on the clock. Muller and Thorne came through with the buckets to trim the deficit to 58-54, but the rally ended there.
Spencer hit 6-of-11 field goal attempts and scored a season-high 16 points to lead Virginia Wesleyan. Seipp recorded her fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game with 13 points and Miller posted a season-high 11 points, hitting a trio of triples.
Both teams shot well in the second half as Bridgewater connected on 51.5% from the field, only to be out-done by VWC's 58.8% accuracy. The Marlins nailed 7-of-15 triples and Bridgewater canned 5-of-16 overall. VWC hit 24-of-39 free throws, while BC connected on just 12-of-22. Kelsey Taylor (Nokesville, Va./Brentsville) and Thorne led the Eagles with eight rebounds each. Blalock pulled down nine for VWC, Lewis had eight, and Spencer finished with seven. Boyce led both teams with five assists and Morgan led the game with four steals.
Mullen paced Bridgewater scoring with 15 points, followed by Thorne with 13, the latter helped by a 6-of-7 effort from the field.
Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Saturday, Dec. 3, in an ODAC road game at Lynchburg College beginning at 4 p.m.
--AMDG--