LYNCHBURG, Va. -- A 13-4 scoring run by Lynchburg College's women's basketball team in the early minutes of the second half of Wednesday's game left Virginia Wesleyan College's Marlins in a comeback mode until the final buzzer.

The Marlins were able to cut a 25-point deficit to just 12 points when the final buzzer sounds, but it wasn't enough as Lynchburg posted a 72-60 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory.

Virginia Wesleyan (15-9, 9-6) fell behind 7-0 at the start of the game, but rallied to cut the Lynchburg lead to 14-12 on a three-pointer by Kelly Jones (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron). Charmaine Hairston scored five straight points to refire Lynchburg (17-7, 12-3), which put together a 17-5 scoring run to open up a 31-17 lead.  The Hornets went on to lead 42-25 at halftime.

Any hopes of a comeback were dashed early in the second half for the Marlins when Lynchburg rode the 13-4 scoring run to a 55-30 advantage with 14:28 remaining to be played in the game.

Jones led VWC scoring with 12 points. Senior Symonne Newsome (Reistertown, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) followed with 11 points.  Both players hit a pair of triples for the Marlins, who connected on 9-of-17 attempts overall.

Lynchburch connected on five triples, with four coming from Hairston, who led all scoring with 27 points. She hit 9-of-17 shots overall. Shannon Allen scored 14 points for the Hornets and Chaney Forbush added 10.

VWC closes the regular season at home on Saturday, Feb. 21, hosting Hollins University at 2 p.m. in an attempt to clinch a spot in the top four of the ODAC standings entering tournament play next week.

--AMGD--