Week 5

WASHINGTON AND LEE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (4-6, 3-3 ODAC) 

Jan. 12 vs. Eastern Mennonite (10-1, 6-1 ODAC); 7:00 pm
Jan. 15 at Roanoke College (9-2, 6-1 ODAC); 7:00 pm
Jan. 16 at Bridgewater College (4-6, 3-3 ODAC); 3:00 pm

PDF Version of the Notes

KING OF THE GENERALS
Mandy King (Southern Maine ’98) is in her seventh season as head women’s basketball coach at W&L and is the program’s all-time winningest coach with a 76-91 (.455) record.  She is assisted by Abby Pyzik (Lynchburg ‘04), who is in her second season. Facing this week’s competition, King holds records of 4-11 against Eastern Mennonite, 4-8 versus Roanoke College and 3-10 against Bridgewater College.

THE WEEK AHEAD
The Generals will have a tough week ahead of them, facing two of the top three teams in the ODAC, as Eastern Mennonite and Roanoke College are currently tied with Randolph-Macon atop the conference standings with 6-1 marks in conference play. However, the Generals currently own winning streaks against both teams, with a 2-game streak against the Royals and 1-game streak against the Maroons. W&L has not been as fortunate lately against Bridgewater, riding a four-game losing streak, including back-to-back losses to end the 2008-09 campaign. The Generals have also not fared well overall against the three teams, holding a 12-21 record against EMU, a 4-26 mark versus Roanoke (with all four wins coming under head coach Mandy King) and a 5-26 record against Bridewater.

LAST TIME OUT (vs. Randolph College, 1/9/10)
Sophomore guard Meg Ingram led four Generals in double digits with a game-high 18 points and W&L tied the program record for most three-point shots made in a game in a 85-48 victory over Randolph College on Saturday. W&L shot 63.2 (12-19) percent from behind the arc en-route to connecting on 12 three-point shots, tying the program record for three-point shots made in a game. The Generals also made 12 three-pointers in an 86-61 victory at Guilford on Feb. 21, 2008. Randolph recorded the first points of the contest on a three-point shot from senior guard Katie Rechnitzer, but the Generals then outscored the WildCats 38-13 in taking a 38-16 at the half, and cruised to their fourth win of the season. The Generals limited the WildCats to just 32.7 percent (17-52) shooting and forced 23 turnovers. W&L shot 48.4 percent (30-62), including 61.5 percent (16-26) in the second half. In addition to her 18 points, Ingram added four assists and three rebounds, while sophomore guard Kari Ann Pfannenstein added a season-high 13 points. First-year forward Rachel Warrick chipped in 12 points and eight boards and junior guard Allie Long notched a season-high 10 points. All 11 Generals’ players dented the scoring column in the contest.

SCOUTING EASTERN MENNONITE
The Royals are 10-1 on the season, owning a 6-1 mark against ODAC competition. The Royals were riding a 10-0 start to the season before falling to Guilford, 60-53, on Saturday. EMU built a 21-8 lead after a pair of free throws from senior guard Melissa Lewis with 7:55 left in the half. Guilford then scored the next seven points and outscored EMU 13-4 over the remainder of the half to pull within four points (25-21) at the break. EMU’s offensive woes continued in the second half and the Quakers scored the first six points to grab their first lead, 27-25. The deficit sailed to 36-27 after a Lauren LeFevers three pointer at 11:34. The Royals weren’t done, as they climbed to within three points after a three-point shot from junior center Danielle Scott made it 45-42 with 5:01 to play. Guilford would go on to score the next seven points to hold on for the 60-53 win. Junior guard Brittany Snyder led all scorers with 21 points, as she hit four of eight three pointers. Scott finished with 12 points, while first-year guard Danielle Rittenhouse had eight rebounds and three steals. Senior forward Miranda Wolfe added seven boards. The Royals have three players averaging double-digit points on the season, including Scott (12.4), Snyder (11.8) and Rittenhouse (10.4).

SCOUTING ROANOKE COLLEGE
Roanoke is 9-2 on the season, including a 6-1 mark in the ODAC. The Maroons will have a week off between games, last defeating Virginia Wesleyan, 66-57, on Saturday. Battling through a season-worst 26 turnovers, Roanoke won with its defense, out-rebounding Virginia Wesleyan, 41-27, and holding the Marlins to a mere 25 percent shooting on the afternoon. Up only five at the half, Roanoke scored the first seven points of the second half to build its largest lead of the game, 36-24, with 17:54 remaining. Senior guard Caitlyn Long hit a three-pointer followed by two free-throws and a made jumper by junior center Jordan Gholson to give the Maroons a 12-point advantage. Virginia Wesleyan slowly chipped away at the Maroons’ lead and sliced it to four points (46-42), after a three-pointer by Beth Ann Boyce with 9:59 left. Gholson scored off an assist from Rebecca Bays to make the score 61-51 with 3:07 remaining to keep the Marlins at bay. Roanoke was led by Long with a season-high 17 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range and 6-for-6 from the line. She also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the second-straight night. Long enters the game against W&L needing only 16 points to become the 15th Maroon to reach 1,000 career points. She also tied Katrina Williams ’03 for third all-time in career three-pointers made (150). Gholson finished with 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the line in addition to four rebounds and a blocked shot. She needs three more blocked shots to become the school’s all-time leader (137). The Maroons are led by Gholson, who is averaging 12.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while posting an ODAC-leading 2.27 blocks per game. Long has tallied averages of 11.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
 
SCOUTING BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE
Bridgewater will host Lynchburg College on Tuesday and travel to Hollins on Friday before returning home to play W&L on Saturday. Bridgewater is currently 4-6 on the season, holding a 3-3 mark against the ODAC. The Eagles are led by junior guard/forward Jordan Burkholder, who is averaging 16.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Jenny Logan (8.2 ppg) and senior forward Kristin Bosserman (6.8 ppg) round-out the top three scorers for BC.

THREE’S COMPANY
After connecting on 12 three-point shots on Saturday against Randolph, the Generals tied a program record for most three-point shots made in a game. The other occasion W&L connected on 12 three’s in a game was Feb. 21, 2008, in a 86-61 victory at Guilford. This season, W&L is 3-3 when making more threes than an opponent, and the Generals are shooting 34.2 percent (55-161) from the arc.

PULLING AWAY
With a 20-point victory at Lynchburg on Friday and a 37-point win over Randolph on Saturday, head coach Mandy King has now led the Generals to 26 20+ point victories in her seven seasons. Of those wins, 14 of the 26 have come at home, with the Generals recording back-to-back 20+ point victories on five occasions.

AT THE BUZZER (PART ONE)
W&L has played in 16 games decided by one point in 17 seasons, with the latest coming Jan. 5 against Virginia Wesleyan (L, 47-48). The Generals are 8-8 in one-point games, owning a 5-2 mark at home, 3-5 on the road and 0-1 at a neutral site, with only two of those games being decided in overtime (0-2 in OT).

AT THE BUZZER (PART TWO)
Traveling to Bridgewater on Saturday may bring back some bad memories for the Generals, as the last two contests at Nininger Hall have been losses decided by one point off last-minute shots from the Eagles. W&L has not recorded a win at Nininger Hall since the 2004-05 season, and has played a total of three one-point games at the Hall with head coach Mandy King at the helm, dropping all three contests.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
The Generals’ starting five of Kari Ann Pfannenstein, Meg Ingram, Becca Bolton, Allie Long and Felice Herman have been the driving force behind W&L’s offense this season, scoring 73 percent (449-618) of its points thus far. The pentad is averaging 44.9 points, 25.5 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game.

PUT THE GOOD FOOT FORWARD
After averaging 4.6 points, 4.6 shots and 5.1 rebounds per game over the first seven games, junior forward Felice Herman seems to have found her stride from last season, where she averaged 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while leading the ODAC in field goal percentage (.557). Over the last three contests, Herman has averaged 11.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, while taking an average of 11.3 shots per game and going 16-34 (.471) from the field.
 
TURN THE BEAT AROUND
After posting averages of 0.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in 13.5 minutes per game over the first two contests, first-year guard Rachel Warrick has emerged as a legitimate scoring option for the Generals over the past eight games.  Over the past eight outings, Warrick has averaged 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds, while averaging 21.1 minutes per game.  She has gone 21-of-24 (.875) from the free throw line and 6-of-12 (.500) from three point range.  Warrick scored a season-best 18 points in a win over Hollins and has added five more double-figure games since: Guilford (12), Capital (10), Randolph-Macon (11), Lynchburg (12) and Randolph (12).

FOLLOW THE LEADER
Sophomore guard Becca Bolton has led the charge for the Generals this season as the top scorer and rebounder in six of 10 contests. Her streak of 11-straight games with double-digit points (dating back to Feb. 21, 2009) came to an end on Saturday when she recorded only eight points against Randolph. Bolton recorded her third double-double of the season and 11th of her career on Jan. 5 against Virginia Wesleyan (12 pts, 16 reb). Over Bolton’s two-year career, the Generals are only 5-6 (.455) when she records a double-double.

TAKE THE LEAD
This season the Generals are 4-1 when leading at halftime, with their only loss coming at Christopher Newport on Nov. 21. Their largest lead going into the half has been 29 points (at Hollins, 11/30), with three of the four other contests separated by single-digit margins. On the flip side, in the five contests that W&L has been down at the half, three games have been by double-digits.

MISSING THE MARK
In the Generals’ four wins this season, they have shot a combined 46.4 percent (110-237) from the floor.  Compare that to the team’s six losses, where W&L has shot just 35.0 percent (108-309) from the field.  Additionally, the Generals tend to shoot better from the floor in the first half of games (.425, 116-273) than during the second half (.392, 103-263), a trend that has occurred in every game but three.

NEW YEAR, BETTER RESULTS
Over the past six seasons under head coach Mandy King, the Generals have been more successful in the final two months of the season compared to the first two. King has a record of 10-17 (.370) in November and 9-16 (.360) in December, but in turn has led W&L to a 32-32 (.500) record in January and 23-26 (.469) mark in February.

THEY’RE JUST NUMBERS
With the win over No. 21 Capital at the Surf N’ Slam Small College Women’s Basketball Classic, W&L claimed just its second victory over a ranked opponent in program history. The other victory came Jan. 20, 2007 as W&L defeated No. 24 Bridgewater. 

--GENERALS--