#1 Virginia Wesleyan to Meet #5 Washington and Lee in Semifinals

SALEM, Va. ---Top seeded Virginia Wesleyan held #8 Lynchburg to 30-percent shooting as the Marlins move on to the semifinals with a 78-61 win over the Hornets in the first quarterfinal of the ODAC Women's Basketball Tournament.  VWC will face #5 Washington and Lee in the semifinals on Saturday.

The Marlins pushed the pedal down from the start, notching the game's first six points and eventually pulling out to a 9-2 lead just over three minutes into the contest.  Lynchburg cut its deficit to five points at 15-10 with 10:57 on the first half clock, but Virginia Wesleyan slowly massaged its lead out to 10 points at 27-17 following a lay-up by Sarah Seipp at the 6:08 mark.

VWC's advantage grew to 12 points when Kerri-Leanne Taylor drilled a three-pointer with 2:48 to go, but the Hornets found their footing and finished on a 6-2 mini run to go into the break trailing 36-28.

A Rachael Miller trifecta and layup from Kristen Blalock saw Virginia Wesleyan's lead increase to 13 points at the second half's outset.  After Katie Crump cut LC's defict to nine points at 41-32, the Marlins went on a 9-2 string to open up a 16 point lead at 50-34 with 14:41 to play.

The Hornets worked VWC's lead down to 12 points on a few occasions, the last time when Crump hit a jumper with 7:59 on the clock, but a Symonne Newsome layup with 4:17 to go capped a 14-5 Marlin run that saw VWC move out to a game-high 21-point lead at 72-51.

LC's Carly Greenlief made it 76-61 following an and-one free throw with 1:56 to play, but Nancy Kelly's bucket with 1:31 remaining was the game's final score, providing the Marlins with their winning margin.

Seipp led VWC with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting.  Blalock chipped in 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.  She also blocked three shots.  Shawnee Lewis added nine points, while Newsome finished with eight markers.

Caitlin Falls led LC and all scorers with 22 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds.  She canned 12-of-15 free throws and was 5-of-7 from the field.  Shea Kelley notched 21 points as she nailed 6-of-10 shots from three-point territory.

For more information, visit any of the participating schools' websites, or go to the championship website at www.odaconline.com/tournament/winter/basketball/index.