GREENSBORO, N.C. -- After leading the game most of the way Saturday, the basketball refused to drop for the Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins in the final four minutes at Guilford College.

The host Quakers simply took advantage of the situation and rode the scoring of Gabby Oglesby (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) to a 75-66 victory in a showdown between the last two undefeated teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

While Oglesby scored eight points for the Quakers (9-2, 6-0), Virginia Wesleyan hit just one of its last eight field goal attempts.  Those shots included four from three-point range.

After a close start that saw the score stay within three points, Virginia Wesleyan (9-3, 6-1) sparked an 11-2 scoring run to open up the largest lead of the first half at 31-21.  Rookie Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) led the effort with five points while sophomore Symonne Newsome (Reistertown, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) added four points. 

But, Guilford shook it off and outscored Virginia Wesleyan in the final three minutes, 9-3, to pull within a 34-30 score by halftime.  Jazlyn Gibbs (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) led Guilford's run with seven points.

Senior Kristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian) scored on a layup to open scoring in the second half and push the Marlins into a 36-30 lead.  Brittany Atwater (Durham, N.C./Ravenscroft), Oglesby, and Gibbs answered for Guilford however, to carry the Quakers into a 39-38 lead with 16 minutes remaining to be played.

The teams played to ties at 39 and 43, before Blalock fired in a triple off an assist from rookie Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) to give Virginia Wesleyan the lead at 46-43 with 14:28 showing.  The Marlins maintained the lead through the next 10 minutes as Katie Tassa (Bristow, Va./Manassas Osbourn Park), Glasco, Seipp, and Blalock hit key baskets for the Marlins.

Guilford stayed close however and tied the game at 64 following a layup from Logan Hardin (Climax, N.C./New Hanover) and a Jaclyn Nucci (Gambrills, Md./South River) free throw with 4:23 to play.  After a VWC turnover on a possession to regain the lead, Guilford jumped in front at 66-64 on an Oglesby jumper and led the rest of the way as the scoring stopped for VWC.

Blalock led VWC scoring with 23 points, hitting 9-of-22 field goal attempts, including a pair of triples.  Seipp followed with 15 points. 

Oglesby led all scoring with 24 points, hitting 9-of-16 shots from the field.  Gibbs added 20 points, Atwater finished with 11, and King tallied 10.  Nucci led all rebounding with 12.

Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Tuesday, Jan. 10, playing at Randolph-Macon College in and ODAC game at 7 p.m.

--AMDG--