SALEM, Va. The 6th-seeded Virginia Wesleyan University women's basketball team upset the #3 Lynchburg Hornets, 61-51, in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) quarter final matchup Thursday night at the Salem Civic Center. With the victory, the Marlins are now 14-13 on the season, while the Hornets close out their year, 20-6.

It was a close game from start to finish with the Marlins only truly able to pull away in the final minutes. The first half was the Jayla Harris and Reagan Holmes show as they combined for 12 of the team's 15 opening quarter points. Up 15-11 going into the second stanza, the Marlins fell into a rut as the Hornets went on an 11-2 run over the first four minutes. Holmes put a stop to that though as she went on a 7-0 streak of her own to help the Marlins regain the lead. Raya Berkley finished out the half with two layups, allowing VWU to take a 29-26 lead into the intermission.

The third quarter was won at the charity stripe for the higher-seeded team as the team went a perfect 6-for-6 (four from NiAsia Caldwell and two from Jaeyln Washington) to help maintain the lead going into the final period.

Holding a 46-39 lead going into the fourth, both teams went scoreless over the first 3:10. Berkley broke that up though as she hit a layup at the 6:50 mark. The teams exchanged a few baskets but a late dagger three hit by Holmes in the shotclock helped give the Marlins a healthy lead as time was winding down. From there, the Hornets missed a few buckets and began to play the foul game, but it did not phase the Marlins as they went another 6-for-6 from the line to help seal up the victory.

The starting five accounted for 52 of the team's 61 points on the evening. Harris and Holmes, who both notched 18 points in the previous game, outdid that as each player scored 19 points on the night. Holmes nailed five from beyond the arc en-route to a new career high, while Harris racked up her 22nd double-digit scoring performance of the night. Berkley pitched in 10 of her own as well.

Coming off the bench was NiAsia Caldwell, who scored the team's other nine points on the evening, to go along with three rebounds. Jada Lewis gave Coach Stephanie Dunmyer good reserve minutes also as she hauled in four rebounds and two steals.

The squad is now set to take on #2 Randolph-Macon in the ODAC Semifinals. That contest will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday.