LEXINGTON, Va. - The Shenandoah University women's basketball team fell to Washington & Lee 69-55 on Tuesday night in a rematch of the 2019 ODAC Championship game.
Down one point at halftime, the Hornets (7-5, 4-2 ODAC) found it difficult to keep up with the Generals (8-6, 5-2) offensively in the third. Shenandoah trailed by as many as 13 points as W&L outscored its visitors 17-8 coming out of the break.
THE RUNDOWN
1st Quarter
The Hornets got out to a quick start leading the Generals 12-4 in the first five minutes of play. During the stretch, Ragan Johnson tallied up eight points. W&L would go on to score the next 11 points, sending SU into a scoring drought and a three-point deficit to end the first quarter.
2nd Quarter
Senior point guard Sarah Donley ended the scoreless streak with a jumper at 9:30 in the second as the Hornets began chipping away at the lead. Shenandoah went on a 12-6 run in the last six minutes of the half, taking the lead 27-26 at the 1:16 mark. Megan Horn would give the Generals a 28-27 advantage going into the break draining both free throws with ten seconds on the clock.
3rd Quarter
Shenandoah struggled to keep the offense rolling in the third, shooting just 3-of-13 from the field. The Hornets gained some momentum in the remaining seconds with a big Kelsey Jones three-pointer to end the quarter down 10, 45-35.
4th Quarter
Shenandoah had its best quarter offensively, shooting 45% (9-of-20) and scoring 20 points. Defensively, SU held Washington & Lee to just five field goals in the final quarter but the Generals took advantage at the line, making 12-of-14, to secure the win.
QUOTABLE
"Defensively, I am very proud of our efforts guarding Taylor Casey, holding her to just seven points is something we can build off of. Unfortunately, having to go to the bench quicker than usual because of foul trouble cooled off a hot start shooting. Even though we found a little offensive spark going into halftime, the foul count prevented us from being as aggressive as we wanted to and affected our scoring output in the third quarter." - Head Coach
Melissa Smeltzer-KraftSTATS OF THE DAY
UP NEXT
The women's basketball team returns to the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center on Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest versus Lynchburg.
