LEXINGTON, Va. -- Timely free throw shooting down the stretch helped Washington & Lee University's women's basketball team to hold off Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlins 53-43 Tuesday in Old Dominion Athletic Conference competition.

The Generals (6-2, 3-1), defending ODAC champions, hit only one field goal in the final 5:30 of the game, but protected its lead by nailing 7-of-10 free throws in the final 3:23 to stay in front of the Marlins (4-6, 2-3), who hit some big long-range shots in the final minutes to pressure the host team.

Washington & Lee held a 14-point lead with 6:45 remaining in the game, but watched it fall apart as VWC found the range from behind the three-point arc.  Rookie Katie Tassa (Bristow, Va./Manassas Osbourn Park) started the Marlin comeback with a triple at 6:36, junior Kristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian) hit at 5:34 and sophomore Kerry Johnson (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker) followed with another at 5:10 as the Generals' 14 point lead was whittled to seven points.

After a trade-off of missed shots and turnovers by both teams, Virginia Wesleyan pulled within a 44-39 score when Blalock scored on a jumper.  Free throws by Meg Ingram (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale) helped push the W&L lead back to eight, before Blalock struck again, nailing another triple, off an assist from Shawnee Lewis (Alexandria, Va./Thomas A. Edison), to pull the Marlins back within five at 48-43 with 1:36 remaining to be played.

That's where the comeback ended for VWC however, as the Marlins did not connect on their last five shots.  W&L padded its lead with free throws to get to the final margin of victory.

Blalock led all scoring with 20 points, hitting 9-of-17 field goal attempts.  Johnson added eight points for the Marlins and Tassa finished with seven. 

Virginia Wesleyan, which struggled with bouts of cold shooting in recent outings, found the range early against the Generals and produced a solid first half from the field.  The Marlins led by as many as nine points in the half, before settling for a 23-22 lead at halftime.

Washington & Lee tied the game at 25-all on a three-pointer by Allie Long, which sparked a 16-4 run that catapulted the Generals into a 38-27 lead, sparked by key scoring by Felice Herman (Fairfield, Pa./Delone Catholic) and Ingram.  VWC hit a cold spell, scoring just five points in the first 14 minutes of the second half, before Tassa hit a three-pointer that ignited the Marlins' final rally.

Ingram led Washington & Lee with 18 points, hitting 6-of-7 free throws, more than the entire VWC team.  The Marlins were awarded five free throws and hit two for the game. W&L hit 14-of-22 overall.

Herman added 12 points to the Generals' totals.  W&L finished with a slim 44-42 edge on the boards.

Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Friday, Jan. 7, hosting Emory & Henry College's Wasps in an ODAC game at 7 p.m.  The Marlins also play on Saturday, Jan. 8, hosting Guilford College's Quakers in another league contest, starting at 4 p.m.

--AMDG--