VIRGINIA BEACH -- Roanoke College's attempt to send Saturday's women's basketball game into a second overtime session was stopped near midcourt at Virginia Wesleyan College's Jane P. Batten Student Center.
As the Maroons moved forward the VWC defense closed in as the ball crossed the center line and a battle for possession began as the last five seconds of the game ticked off the clock. Virginia Wesleyan senior Symonne Newsome (Reistertown, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) emerged with the prize, helping the host Marlins to pull out a thrilling 73-71 overtime Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory.
Senior Kerri Taylor (Stockport, England/Pottstown, Pa. Hill School) hit a triple with 61 seconds remaining to give Virginia Wesleyan a 73-68 lead, but Roanoke (5-9, 2-4) senior Meghan Gadell (Vienna/Bishop O'Connell) answered with a trey to pull the Maroons within a 73-71 score with 40 seconds on the clock.
Virginia Wesleyan controlled possession for the next 32 seconds, before a foul by Taylor provided Roanoke with a final opportunity to tie, or take the lead. But, Newsome didn't let it happen.
The OT ending was similar to the ending of regulation play VWC saw the Maroons come through with some timely scoring to wipe out VWC's 59-51 lead with 3:18 on the clock. Tatum McKee (Cornelius, N.C./North Mecklenburg) hit a key triple with 1:00 on the clock to pull the Maroons within three, but the big shot came from junior Anna Carter (Lynchburg/Jefferson Forest) who hit a buzzer-beating jumper to knot the game at 62-all.
Newsome nailed a triple to start the OT scoring and senior Andrea Paphites (Virginia Beach/Princess Anne) added another trey to pad the lead for VWC, which never trailed in the session, or in the game for that matter.
The Marlins opened up an early 10-point lead, 20-10, as senior Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg/Massaponax) scored seven points in the first seven minutes. Key scoring by Bridget Holleran (Charlottesville/Monticello) and Gadell helped Roanoke to cut the deficit to 29-28, but the Marlins responded with big shots. Junior Cassie Conley (New Market/Stonewall Jackson) and Glasco drilled through back-to-back triples to push VWC out to 35-28 lead at halftime.
VWC maintained its lead throughout the second half, helped by scoring from sophomore Crystal Strother (Accokeek, Md./Brandywine Gwynn Park), senior Nancy Kelly (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney), and Conley, but Roanoke stayed closed. After McKee put through a three to pull the Maroons with a 53-51 score with 9:10 to play, Conley, Kelly, and Newsome all hit jumpers for the Marlins to rebuild the VWC lead to 59-51, before Roanoke rallied to send the game into OT.
Virginia Wesleyan connected for 53.8% from the field in the first half and helped itself throughout the game with alert passing that helped produce a season-high 24 assists. It ties the ninth highest total in program history and is the highest number of assists for a VWC team since 2008 when the Marlins recorded 28 in a win over Hollins University. Newsome led the effort with a career-high seven, followed by Paphites with five.
Glasco emerged as the scoring leader for the Marlins with 21 points, hitting 9-of-14 field goal attempts, including all three triples she attempted. Strother netted a season-high 12 point and Paphites and Conley finished with nine points each. Conley was 4-for-4 from the field.
Beahm hit 9-of-9 free throws en route to 23 points for Roanoke, which enjoyed a 15-of-17 showing from the charity stripes. VWC hit just 2-of-6 freebies. Holleran added 14 points to the Roanoke total and Gadell and Carter tallied 12 points each. The Maroons finished with a 37-35 edge on the boards, led by Beahm with eight rebounds. Kelly had six boards for VWC.
Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Wednesday, Jan. 21, when it hosts league-leading Lynchburg College at 7 p.m. The Hornets pinned the first ODAC loss of the season on Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday, posting a 70-66 victory. Lynchburg, EMU, and Randolph-Macon all currently own 5-1 league marks, while VWC and Washington and Lee University are both 4-2.
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