BRIDGEWATER, Va. — The Bridgewater College women’s basketball team topped the ODAC-leading Washington and Lee Generals 52-45 inside a packed Nininger Hall.

Final Score: Bridgewater 52, Washington and Lee 45
Records: Bridgewater 14-5, 9-4 ODAC; Washington and Lee 15-6, 12-2 ODAC

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Bridgewater opened the contest with buckets on the first two possessions. Riley Corcoran got the scoring started with a layup and on the next BC trip down the floor Jayden Alsberry found Abby Freeman at the elbow for an easy two, giving the Eagles an early 4-0 edge. The Generals responded with their first bucket of the game the next time down the floor, but an Alsberry layup gave the Eagles another two-possession lead. WLU was held scoreless for over four minutes before they got back in the scoring column. Four unanswered from the home side closed out the frame, topped off by an Erika Nettles layup in the final seconds to give BC a 12-6 lead after the first 10 minutes.

• Washington and Lee opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run with all five points coming from Mary Schleusner. With the Generals within a point, Corcoran knocked down a jumper. Schleusner quickly responded with another layup, but Alsberry found Corcoran underneath to give the Eagles a 16-13 advantage midway through the quarter. Bridgewater owned the final four minutes and change of the opening half outscoring WLU 11-3 over the stretch. Rosemary Pierson capped off the stretch as she shimmied away from her defender, stepped back, and nailed the triple to give the home side a 27-16 lead heading into the intermission.

• Abby Branner opened the second half with a pair of beautiful assists to get the Crimson and Gold on the board first in the second half. Branner found Freeman open in the midrange and then dished inside to Alsberry to push the BC advantage to 15. Washington and Lee quickly got the game back to within 10 with a pair at the charity stripe from Kathryn Vandiver and a triple from Schleusner. The Eagles then turned to their offense with a 7-0 stretch capped off by back-to-back buckets from Nettles to make it a 38-21 game with 5:12 to play in the third quarter. WLU responded with a triple to stop the momentum and neither side scored for almost three minutes until Alsberry found Branner in the mid-range for an easy two. The two squads went on to trade buckets, but for every Bridgewater bucket there was a three-pointer from the visiting side to make it 42-30 heading into the final frame.

• The two sides traded makes to open the fourth quarter but following the make by Garcia the Generals offense started to roll. A quick six-point run for the visiting side cut the BC lead in half but a pair of free throws from Nettles helped stretch the lead back to eight. After another trade of makes the Generals nailed a three-pointer to draw to within five with three minutes remaining. The Bridgewater defense went to work and did not allow a WLU field goal until the closing seconds but clutch free throws down the stretch from Jasmyn Pierce and Nettles sealed the deal.

MATCH FACTS
• Corcoran and Nettles led the team in points with 11 each. Jay Garcia added eight and grabbed nine rebounds.

• The Eagles did their best to limit Schleusner, the Generals leading scorer, and limited the first-year to nine points. The Charlotte, N.C. native grabbed an impressive 23 rebounds with 12 alone in the first quarter.

• Alsberry led BC on the glass with 11 rebounds and added four assists and four points as well.

• The Bridgewater defense played true to the numbers, holding the Generals to 23.2% shooting from the field and 5/29 from long range.

• BC only attempted five shots from beyond the arc, but made it count with a pair of huge makes down the stretch.

UP NEXT
The Eagles return to the court for another big matchup on the road at Shenandoah on Feb.4 for a 2 p.m. date with the Hornets.

— BC Athletics —