VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlins used a first-half closing scoring spurt and a long scoring run in the second half to post a 61-49 victory over Guilford College's Quakers in a Saturday showdown between two of the front-runners in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
The host Marlins and the Quakers both entered VWC's Senior Day contest at the Jane P. Batten Student Center with 15-4 records overall and 12-2 marks in the conference, tied for second place. But, a harassing Virginia Wesleyan defense helped knock the Quakers down a rung for the time being.
While Virginia Wesleyan turned the ball over only six times, the Marlin defense helped force 19 Guilford turnovers that led to big points. The Marlins outscored Guilford 17-7 on turnovers, including 10-0 in the second half.
Some of those points were part of a 23-8 run by Virginia Wesleyan in the second half that ended what had been a tight contest. After Gabby Oglesby (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) hit a pair of free throws to pull the Quakers within a 37-36 score, senior Beth Ann Boyce (Colonial Heights, Va./Colonial Height) answered with a triple that gave the Marlins a 40-36 lead.
Boyce's triple started the 23-8 run, which was led by rookie Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) with nine points, seniorJocelyn Spencer (Newport News, Va./Menchville) with five, and rookie Nancy Kelly (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) with four. VWC not only scored consistently in the 13-minute run, but also applied defensive pressure that helped produce eight Guilford turnovers. The Quakers hit only one of 12 shots in that span.
When it was all over Virginia Wesleyan led 60-44 with 3:07 on the clock. Jaclyn Nucci (Gambrills, Md./South River) and Kayla Adams (Rural Hall, N.C./North Forsyth) produced late scoring for the Quakers, but not enough.
Guilford started the game impressively, hitting its first five shots, including triples by Jazlyn Gibbs (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) and Brittany Atwater (Durham, N.C./Ravenscroft). The Quakers led 31-25 with 4:38 remaining in the first half, but could not make it stick.
Senior Kristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian) put through a timely triple off an assist from rookie Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) to put the Marlins back on track. Blalock added another two points on a jumper and junior Rachael Miller (Sterling, Va./ParkVeiw) followed with a big triple to cap an 8-0 VWC run in the final 4:25 of the first half.
VWC led 33-31 at halftime and stayed in front the remainder of the game.
Seipp emerged as the game's leading scorer with 17 points, hitting 5-of-9 field goal attempts. Bocye hit three triples en route to scoring 10 points, and Miller and Kelly both finished with eight. Kelly also led VWC rebounding with seven.
Morgan King (Wilmington, N.C./New Hanover) led Guilford with 10 points, hitting 4-of-5 field goal attempts. She also recorded four blocks. Oglesby followed with nine points and Gibbs finished with eight. Nucci led the Quakers on the backboards with eight rebounds.
Virginia Wesleyan helped itself by hitting 8-of-18 three-point attempts, led by Boyce with three. Guilford attempted 14 and hit six, led by Gibbs and Adams with two each.
Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Tuesday, Feb. 7, hosting the Hornets of Lynchburg College in another ODAC game beginning at 7 p.m.
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