After the teams battled to a 38-all halftime tie at VWC’s Jane P. Batten Student Center, the host Marlins jumped out to a 46-38 lead over the visiting Wasps in the first three minutes of the second half. Virginia Wesleyan eventually extended the spread to 66-54 with 7:00 remaining to play and held off the Wasps the rest of the way.
The victory extended the best start since 1987 for Virginia Wesleyan, which improved to 10-2 overall, highlighted by a nine-game winning streak, the longest since the 1985-86 season. The Marlins also improved to 7-0 in the ODAC, a first for the VWC program.
“It was another game where we made the plays we needed to make when things got close,” said Virginia Wesleyan head coach Stephany Dunmyer. “We were also able to get some key defensive stops and rebounds late in the game. Jill (Weston) came in and gave us a nice offensive boost, Lauren (Rector) hit some key shots, everyone really contributed in some way.”
Weston (Radford, Va./Radford), a rookie, stepped in to fill the void created by the absence of rookie starter Andrea Ushinski (Oak Hill, Va./Oakton), who did not play due to an injury sustained in Thursday’s win at Lynchburg College. Weston finished with six points, scoring all six in the second half, hitting timely shots to help keep the Marlins in control.
She was one of three Marlins who came on strong in the second half as Rector (Salem, Va./Culpeper), a junior, tallied 10 of her 16 points in the half, while sophomore Heather Phillips (Hillsboro, Va./Ashburn Stone Bridge) scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the half.
Emory & Henry’s Becca Thompson followed suit and scored nine of her 11 points in the second half, hitting some timely shots that helped cut the deficit to five points twice late in the half. Her layup with 9:34 on the clock pulled the Wasps within a 57-52 score, before Rector answered for the Marlins. Rector ripped in a three-pointer, off an assist from junior Michelle Dove (San Antonio, Texas/Converse Judson), and followed it with a jumper off a steal and assist by sophomore Taylor Lowe (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) to shoot Virginia Wesleyan into a 62-52 lead with 9:02 to play.
An Emory & Henry timeout failed to slow the Marlins, who expanded their lead on key inside plays from Lowe and Phillips. The Wasps trailed 66-54 with 7:00 to play, but continued to battle to the finish.
Led by Katherine Brandt and Brooke Barker, each with six points, the Wasps chipped away at the lead in the final minutes and pulled within a 74-71 score on a Thompson triple with 1:01 to play. But key free throws by Phillips, Dove and sophomore Chesley Barrett (Scaggsville, Md./Columbia Atholton) in the final seconds helped the Marlins repad their lead to five points twice in the final seconds.
The teams battled through an evenly played first half, with neither team leading by more than five points. A jumper by Miranda Carrasco gave Emory & Henry it’s last five-point edge at 37-32, before the Marlins took over. Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Wasps 6-1 in the final 2:23 of the half to force the 38-all halftime tie.
Phillips led all scoring with 17 points, followed by Rector with 16. Sophomore Allison Wheeler (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) added 12 points for the Marlins, scoring all 12 in the first half. Phillips also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for VWC, which recorded 58 overall, the fifth highest total in program history. Junior Nicole Thurston (Ramstein, Germany/American), rookie Bryttani Payton (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) and Lowe recorded seven rebounds each. Rector and Barrett sparked the Marlins’ floor game with five assists each.
Kiyett Brown led Emory & Henry with 15 points, hitting 5-of-10 shots from the field, including 3-of-7 from three-point range. Barker finished with 12 points and Thompson and Carrasco tallied 11 points each. The Wasps put up 36 three-point attempts and hit nine. VWC hit 4-of-12 triple attempts.
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