Marlins Storm Back for 62-57 Victory over Randolph

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College women's basketball team scored twice as many points as Randolph College in the fourth quarter Monday night in a 62-57 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory.

The Marlins trailed 48-44 entering the fourth quarter and looked to be slipping farther back as a Korin Harris layup gave the WildCats a 50-44 lead with 8:32 to play.

Two empty possessions by each team followed with Jayla Harris finding it in her hands for a jumper to cut the deficit back to four with just under seven minutes to play. Another Marlin stop resulted in a shooting foul where Harris converted both free throws to cut the margin to two, 50-48.

Raya Berkley had a chance to tie it up two minutes later when she was fouled at 4:44, but converted on one of two as Randolph clung to a one-point lead.

Taylor Samuels made a jumper off a good pass from Daijah Johnson to push the WildCat lead back to three points, but a 7-0 Virginia Wesleyan run pushed the hosts ahead for good.

Kelly Jones and Alexis Platt each scored a basket to put Virginia Wesleyan ahead 53-52 with 2:48 to play. A pair of free throws byCrystal Strother extended the lead to three before a Platt layup upped the advantage to four.

Abigail Bullins knocked down a three to cut the Randolph deficit back to one, but a Platt layup and clutch free throws down the stretch iced the game.

Platt scored five of her seven points and pulled down two of her four rebounds in the final four minutes to lead the Marlin comeback. Virginia Wesleyan outscored Randolph 18-9 in the fourth quarter.

Rebecca Harvey and Harris each had 14 points for Randolph (3-14/1-7). Bullins was held to just five points on 1-of-13 shooting from the field. She led the squad with seven rebounds and dished out three assists.

Harris led a balanced Marlin effort with 15 points as Berkley and Strother each tallied 11. Berkley had nine rebounds and four assists to pace the squad in both categories.

Virginia Wesleyan (7-10/5-4) hosts Eastern Mennonite University (11-5/4-4) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in another ODAC contest.