VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Wesleyan College's women's basketball Marlins outscored Bridgewater College 19-11 early in the second half Wednesday to create a 53-all tie in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) contest.

Sophomore Kelly Jones (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) connected on a three-pointer with 11:23 remaining to be played to give Virginia Wesleyan a 56-55 lead and an advantage the Marlins  held the rest of the way to posting a 70-61 victory on Cancer Awareness night at the Jane P. Batten Student Center.

Scoring by Cassidy Burkholder (Bridgewater/Turner Ashby) and Heather Cantrell (Singers Glen/Broadway) helped keep the Eagles close, but Virginia Wesleyan produced timely scoring to stay in front.  Rookie Crystal Strother (Accokeek, Md./Brandywine Gwynn Park) came through with one of those shots, nailing a triple that ignited a final 10-2 run in the final 4:43 for Virginia Wesleyan.

Bridgewater (7-16, 5-10) attempted 10 shots in that span of time, but managed to hit just one, a jumper by Oshene Kelly (Front Royal/Skyline) with 1:06 on the clock.

VWC's victory, which avenged an 81-70 loss to the Eagles earlier this season, improved the Marlins overall record to 15-9 and their ODAC mark to 9-6.

Virginia Wesleyan jumped out to a 19-11 lead in the rematch, as Jones hit two and juniors Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg/Massaponax) and Kerri Taylor (Stockport, England/The Hill School, Pa.) recorded one each.

Holly Morgan (Staunton/Buffalo Gap) and Burkholder answered with triples for Bridgewater, igniting a 10-2 Eagles scoring run that tied the score at 21-all.  The score was tied five more times in the following minutes, before Cantrell and Kelly came through with scoring for the Eagles to take a 38-34 halftime lead.

Bridgewater took control in the early minutes of the second half, riding scoring by Cantrell, Burkholder, and Morgan to open up a 44-36 lead.  Virginia Wesleyan came right back however, as senior Katie Tassa (Bristow/Manassas Osbourn Park) hit a jumper to start a 17-9 scoring run by the Marlins to tie the score at 53.

Glasco led all scoring with 18 points, hitting 7-of-14 field goal attempts. She also led VWC with seven rebounds.  Glasco was one of four Marlins to finish in double figures, as Jones tallied 15 points, followed by Tassa with 11, and Taylor with 10.  Taylor also recorded a game-high six assists.

Cantrell led Bridgewater with 16 points. Burkholder tallied 12 for the Eagles and Kelly finished with 10.  Molly Shelley (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) pulled down nine rebounds for the Eagles, who matched Virginia Wesleyan on the boards. Both teams recorded 36 rebounds.

Virginia Wesleyan endsthe regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22, traveling to Lynchburg to face the WildCats of Randolph College at 2 p.m.

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