VIRGINIA BEACH -- Kerry Johnson attemptedonly two shots in Saturday's thrilling 47-46 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory over the Lynchburg College Hornets, but she connected on both, including what turned out to be the game-winner with 25 seconds remaining.

Junior Shawnee Lewis (Alexandria, Va./Thomas A. Edison)cut the Hornets' 46-43 lead to one point with a jumper with 1:15 on the clock. Two missed Lynchburg attempts followed, before sophomore Rachael Miller (Sterling, Va./Park View) grabbed the defensive rebound and fired the ball ahead for VWC.

Junior Kristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian)spotted passed the ball through the Lynchburg defenders to Johnson (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker), who put it up and in from under the basket to give Virginia Wesleyan a 47-46 advantage.

The Marlins missed the change to pad the lead at the free throw line with 10 seconds remaining, but after the Virginia Wesleyan defense slowed the Hornets' advance to the basket in the final seconds, the Hornets got off a pair of shots that came up short before the final buzzer.

VWC (4-3, 2-1) started off well, opening up a 13-2 lead in the first six minutes.  But, a spunky Lynchburg (0-6, 0-3) team, one that pushed perennial power Randolph-Macon College to the wire before falling 48-47, put things together behind Caitlin Falls (Moneta, Va./Staunton River), Katie Crump (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock) and Courtney Brewer (Culpeper, Va./Highland) to pull within a 13-12 score. 

But, Virginia Wesleyan responded with a 9-0 run to open up a 10-point lead behind the scoring of rookie Symonne Newsome (Reistertown, Md./St. Paul's),senior Kristina Jameson (Harrisonburg, Va./Broadway), and Miller.  VWC led 24-18 at halftime.

VWC shot only 34% from the field, including 4-of-20 from three-point range, but Lynchburg hit only 35%, including 1-of-10 from long range.  The Hornets dominated the backboards however, outrebounding VWC 48-25, led by Crump with 14 rebounds.  Blalock led VWC with seven.

Virginia Wesleyan helped itself with another aggressive defensive effort, which helped force 29 Lynchburg turnovers. 

Junior Jocelyn Spencer (Newport News, Va./Hampton Roads Academy)led all scoring with 12 points, hitting 5-of-6 field goal attempts.  Jameson added 11 points, helped by a trio of triples, and Blalock tallied 10 points.

Brewer led Lynchburg with 11 points.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Saturday, Dec. 11, when the Marlins travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to face Eastern Mennonite University at 4 p.m.

--AMDG--