GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Vikings were on the road on Saturday afternoon to take on the University of Mary Washington in the first game of the Guilford Invitational, where they took care of business by a score of 57-50.

Kenadie Lee led the way offensively with 13 points for the Vikings. With the 13-point effort, Lee surpasses the 1,000 career points mark, solidifying her illustrious career as a Viking.

 Jayda Wood proved to be a difference maker with her hot shooting off the bench, finishing with 10 points. Forwards Elly Callihan and Briaiah Lewis poured in 9 points each and combined for 11 rebounds.

The first quarter was all Vikings, as their tenacious full-court pressure on defense controlled the pace of the game. Offensively, the Vikings' unselfish passing led to scoring opportunities. Sylvia Kahoro got things going with a baseline floater to tie the game at 2-2. A few plays later, Kenadie Lee joined in on the action with a highlight reel spin move to finish a layup and give the Vikings an early 4-2 lead. Later in the half, Jayda Wood caught fire, knocking down a pull-up jumper, drawing a charge, and knocking down a corner three-point shot off a beautiful assist from Karlee Armstrong to give the Vikings a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter bought more of the same smothering defensive pressure from Berry, causing UMW to commit numerous turnovers. At the beginning of the second quarter, Kenadie Lee found Elly Callihan who drained a three-point jump shot from the right wing to extend the lead to 11, 17-6. After a short run by UMW, Karlee Armstrong put the momentum back in favor of Berry with a corner-three ball that pushed the lead back to 13, 29-16. UMW would not go away late in the second half as they strung together a run thanks to free throws, but the Vikings responded with free throws of their own thanks to Kenadie Lee and Brooke Jones to preserve a 33-22 first-half lead. 

The second half began with a terrific post move from Briaiah Lewis, as she jab-stepped and drove the baseline to finish a dazzling reverse layup, extending the lead back to 13, 35-22. However, UMW got going offensively as they cut down the Berry lead to 39-32 with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Jayda Wood then came up big offensively again for the Vikings as she drove hard to the basket and finished a nice layup, extending the lead back to 9. UMW continued to cut into the lead though, as they ended the quarter on a 11-4 run, leaving the Vikings with just a six-point lead, 41-35. 

The Eagles continued to put pressure on Berry in the final period, but a clutch three-pointer from Jeryn Jarrett got the Vikings going again after UMW had tied the game. With a 47-44 lead, Berry did not look back as they utilized their air-tight defense to salt away any chance of a comeback from Mary Washington in the final minutes. Timely free throws down the stretch propelled the Vikings to their 9th victory of the season by a score of 57-50.

The Vikings will be in action again tomorrow for the final game of their showing in the Guilford Invitational against Guilford College at 3PM ET.