Marlins Push Guilford to the Brink in Regular Season Finale

GREENSBORO, N.C.—The Virginia Wesleyan College women's basketball team flirted with an upset of Guilford College, one of the top teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).  The Marlins started fast, but Guilford would hold on for a 64-60 victory Saturday afternoon. 

Virginia Wesleyan jumped out quickly as the first period started.  The Marlins opened the contest with a 9-2 run that was sparked by a Jayla Harris three-pointer.  This would help the Marlins gain a 23-9 lead as the game headed into the second quarter.  A big part of the Marlins early success was suffocating defense, which held the Quakers to 17.6% from the field on 3-17 shooting.  It was also a strong period from Harris, Kelly Jones, and Alexis Platt as they each netted 7 points in the opening frame. 

Guilford would answer this early run, with a strong ending to the half.  Down 34-23, the Quakers would go on a 7-0 run with 55 seconds left in the period, which culminated on an Essence Abraham jump shot as time expired bringing the Quakers within four. 

After a tightly contested third quarter, which saw each team net 15 points, the fourth stanza proved to be an exhilarating one.  After nearly maintaining the lead for the duration of the contest, Virginia Wesleyan would find its back up against the wall following a Quaker 11-0 run with 5:16 left to go in the game, which was bolstered by Lauren Ramsey and Heaven Walters who scored five and four points respectively.  This would give Guilford its first lead since the 9:13 mark of the first quarter.  This run proved to be pivotal as the Quakers would maintain control until the final whistle.  With that said the Marlins had a shot to tie the game with 33 seconds to go, but a late attempt to tie fell short. 

The difference for the Quakers was their 33 points scored in the paint, doubling that of the Marlins. 

Ramsey paced Guilford (18-4/12-3) with 17 points on 50% shooting from the field.  Walters led the team in rebounds, corralling 12. 

Jones led the Marlins with 18 points, which came off the strength of five three-pointers.  Harris added 16 points to go along with seven rebounds. 

With the regular season over, Virginia Wesleyan (8-16/6-10) will enter the ODAC tournament as the ninth seed.  The Marlins will travel to Roanoke College (13-12/8-8), the eight seed in the tournament, Monday for a 7 p.m. start in the first round of the ODAC tournament. The winner of that contest will face No. 1 Lynchburg College on Thursday at 1 p.m.

###