Marlins Spring Road Upset on Emory & Henry 76-74
EMORY, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College women's basketball team used a third-quarter run to upset Emory & Henry College 76-74 in a road Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) contest Saturday afternoon.
The Marlins trailed 43-39 at halftime due to a combined 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from E&H's Megan Jacoby and Taylor Blevins.
Virginia Wesleyan started the third quarter with back-to-back three-pointers from Crystal Strother and Jayla Harris to take a 45-43 lead.
Emory & Henry tied it up on the next possession and the two squads went back and forth with the Wasps slowly pulling back ahead on a Chloe Harris jumper with 5:13 remaining in the quarter for a 55-48 edge.
Virginia Wesleyan closed the period on a 14-2 run to take a 62-57 lead into the final period. The balanced scoring run was led byKasey Grainer and her five points. Alexis Platt had four points as Jaelyn Washington tallied three and Strother, two.
The Marlins led by as many as nine points in the fourth when Kelly Jones connected from deep to make the score 73-64 with 2:50 to play.
Blevins scored on each of the next two Wasps' possessions, bring the hosts back to just a 73-69 deficit. Following a Marlin turnover, Emory & Henry missed on a three-point attempt, but Blevins grabbed the offensive rebound and scored, converting the free throw to cut the lead back to one.
Another turnover off pressure defense resulted in a Jacoby layup for Emory & Henry's first lead since 3:38 remained in the third quarter.
Virginia Wesleyan called a timeout with 35 seconds left to set up the offense. Jayla Harris found the ball in her hands and drove the lane resulting in a foul. Harris knocked down both free throws to take the lead back 75-74.
Emory & Henry missed a three to take the lead as Raya Berkley grabbed the carom and knocked down one out of two free throws on the ensuing foul. A timeout with three seconds left allowed the Wasps with a chance for a final shot. The inbounds pass found Blevins in the paint, but her turnaround jumper fell short as the Marlins captured the road victory.
Jacoby and Blevins each finished with 23 points for Emory & Henry (13-5/7-3) as Blevins also led the squad with 10 rebounds.
Harris paced the Marlins with 21 points as Jones contributed 19. Strother contributed a balanced stat line of seven points, six assists and five steals.
Virginia Wesleyan (8-11/6-5) hosts Washington and Lee (10-9/5-5) Saturday at 2 p.m. in the annual Play4Kay Pink Game. The team will be wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. Shirts are being sold for the game to benefit Jodi Bryant, a member of the Virginia Wesleyan family who is battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma for the second time. The game will be televised regionally.