LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Junior Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg/Massaponax) connected on a jumper to tie the game shortly before halftime and sophomore Kelly Jones (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) followed with back-to-back triples that catapulted Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlins into a lead they never lost Saturday.

That late first half scoring gave Virginia Wesleyan a 30-26 lead over the host WildCats of Randolph College in the regular-season Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) finale. VWC never let up after that and posted a solid 72-57 victory that secured the No. 5 seed in the upcoming ODAC championship tournament.

Virginia Wesleyan (16-9) will play at the Jane P. Batten Student Center in the tournament's first round on Monday, Feb. 24, hosting 12th-seeded Hollins University at 7 p.m.  The winner of that game advances to the ODAC quarterfinals on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. to face Guilford College at 3 p.m.

For the time being, the Marlins will savor their win over the WildCats (11-14), who played VWC to a 70-68 game earlier this season in Virginia Beach.  The Marlins played that first game without Glasco, the team's leading scorer, who was on the bench recovering from a concussion.  She was on the court for the second meeting however, and scored four points in a 14-3 second VWC run that put the Marlins in control for good.  Senior Katie Tassa (Bristow/Manassas Osbourn Park) led that run with seven points.

Virginia Wesleyan eventually led by 15 points, 59-45, after Jones nailed another triple with just 7:18 remaining to be played.  But, Randolph made a final run, riding the scoring of Emilee Dunton (Forest, Va./Brookville), Jensen Hoover (Woodstock, Va./Central), and Abigail Bullins (Asheboro, N.C./Asheboro) to pull within eight points, 59-51.

In less than a minute however, Glasco connected on a triple, junior Nancy Kelly (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) scored on back-to-back layups, and Jones hit another to help balloon Virginia Wesleyan's lead to 68-55 with just 2:09 remaining in the game.

Jones hit four triples on her way to scoring a game-high 18 points for VWC.  Glasco added 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, Kelly tallied 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Tassa scored 11 points and recorded eight rebounds.  JuniorKerri Taylor (Stockport, England/The Hill School, Pa.) aided VWC's win with a career-high 10 assists.

Dunton led Randolph with 17 points and Hoover and Bullins scored 16 each.  

2014 ODAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS AND SCHEDULE 

First Round - Monday, February 24 - at highest seeds
Game 1: #9 Randolph at #8 Shenandoah - 7:00 p.m.
Game 2: #12 Hollins at #5 Virginia Wesleyan - 7:00 p.m.
Game 3: #10 Emory & Henry at #7 Bridgewater - 7:00 p.m.
Game 4: #11 Washington and Lee at #6 Roanoke - 7:00 p.m.

Quarterfinals - Thursday, February 27 - Salem Civic Center
Game 5: Winner Game 1 vs. #1 Eastern Mennonite - 1:00 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. #4 Guilford - 3:00 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. #2 Randolph-Macon - 6:00 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. #3 Lynchburg - 8:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, March 1 - Salem Civic Center
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 - 1:00 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 - 3:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 2 - Salem Civic Center
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 - 1:00 p.m.

--AMDG--