Mary Washington (10-3) raced out of the gate to a 14-2 lead following a 3-pointer from Lindsey Forbush with 15:54 remaining. The lead eventually grew to 22-8 following a lay-up from Bruen with 10:53 left in the half.
Apprentice School cut a lead down to six with 2:07 left following a Dayna Twyne jumper that capped a 7-0 run for a 31-25 Eagles advantage, but Mary Washington pushed it back to a double figure lead at the break on a Forbush stick back with 17 seconds left for a 37-27 advantage.
The second half started the same way for Mary Washington as they scored seven of the first nine points in the half to take a 44-29 lead on a Bruen jumper with 18:21 left. Apprentice School slowly worked their way back into the game and used an 8-1 spurt over a nearly three minute span late to cut the lead to 62-58 following a jumper from Ashley Barlow off a feed from Natasha Jones with 47 seconds left. Bruen hit a pair of free throws with 20 seconds and then again with 12 seconds to ice the win.
Bruen was the leading scorer in the game with 25 points, while Forbush had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Jenn Olinger added 11 for the University of Mary Washington. Upenda Morton paced the Apprentice School with 13 points, while Whitney Lassiter had 10 points and Barlow also had 10 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
Apprentice School will next see action on Saturday against Lincoln University in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON 66, APPRENTICE SCHOOL 59 MARY WASHINGTON (10-3): Olinger 4-7 0-0 11, Bruen 8-14 9-11 25, Hanks 1-6 2-3 4, Bates 2-6 1-3 5, Forbush 6-11 1-1 15, Shifflett 0-2 0-0 0, Burnham 0-4 0-0 0, Vigliotti 0-0 0-0 0, Tracy 1-6 2-2 4, Hickey 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-59 15-20 66. APPRENTICE SCHOOL (3-10): Morton 6-12 0-2 13, Lassiter 5-11 0-0 10, Johnson 0-3 0-2 0, Coffer 3-11 2-4 8, Patterson 4-14 0-0 9, Frisby 0-0 0-2 0, Twyne 3-7 2-5 8, Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Jones 0-6 1-2 1, Barlow 4-10 2-4 10, Butcher 0-0 0-0 0, Ball 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-76 7-21 59. Halftime: UMW 37-27. 3-point goals: UMW 5-19 (Olinger 3-5, Bruen 0-2, Hanks 0-3, Bates 0-3, Forbush 2-3, Shifflett 0-1); Apprentice 2-18 (Morton 1-4, Lassiter 0-3, Johnson 0-1, Patterson 1-3, Twyne 0-3, Harris 0-1, Jones 0-3). Rebounds: UMW 51 (Forbush 14); Apprentice 48 (Barlow 13). Total fouls: UMW 13, Apprentice 18. Fouled out: none. Assists: UMW 17 (Bates 7); Apprentice 11 (Lassiter, Jones 3). Att.: 225.